‘The Gap’ that currently exists between Celtic and Rangers has recently become a celestial entity, soon to be recognised in poetry and song.

Only in NASA is there more discussion of matters relating to vast expanses of space. Rangers and the more suggestible sections of the football press have become mesmerised by it. No one is sure what it looks like, for it’s a gaseous and shifting force… only that it exists.

Since Michael Beale became manager of Rangers it seems to have become a Holy Grail for the Ibrox club.

Before and after each Glasgow Derby, The Gap is measured and analysed for any evidence that it has shrunk. Perhaps, at the end of this season or the next, there will be some kind of artistic rendition of ‘The Gap’, like an art nouveau installation in a Gallery of Modern Art.

It could serve as a substitute for a cup in any of those seasons when the trophy cabinet remains empty. 'The Gap: 2023'. See how it has shrunk from what it was in 2022.

Students of quantum physics could write entire theses on The Gap: where it was first spotted (and by whom); the particles that live in it; the possibility that it may have come into being by the Big Bang and that what we’re seeing is something reaching out to us through billion light years in time and space. The Gap, The Gap, The Gap.

Curiously, Celtic never talk of this heavenly being. Under Ange Postecoglou they permit only the results to speak for themselves. And since Beale became manager his team have barely laid a glove on them, even on that occasion at Ibrox where they were favoured with two fortuitous refereeing decisions and an early injury to one of the champions' most influential players.

Following yet another routine Celtic win over Rangers on Saturday I tuned in to Radio Clyde and then Radio Scotland to discover a regiment of pundits picking over the game’s entrails.

The legendary Gap was, as ever, core to their discussions. The universally accepted view was that Rangers had not deserved to lose and The Gap might now perhaps be so small that it can only be glimpsed through a powerful telescope.

Certainly, Saturday’s 3-2 win was not a comfortable experience for Celtic supporters. The team played well when they had to, but only in fits and starts. Aaron Mooy, who has become so influential this season, was nowhere near his best, perhaps as a consequence of having done little training in recent weeks as he recovered from injury. Yet there were still three goals and several other chances.

Rangers’ hopes seemed to rest entirely on pressing Celtic high up the park. It’s not that such a strategy is novel or original, just that it’s about the only one that hasn’t been tried by Rangers this season.

Celtic Way:

The only problem with having your front three players deploy this approach is that – unless they are possessed of absurdly high fitness levels – it begins to knacker them. It has to deliver a goal quickly or else it must be abandoned. Celtic, having sussed this, simply bided their time for the openings that would inevitably follow.

On Saturday, it was noticeable after half an hour that the Rangers press had retreated by about 20 yards from its starting position.

The consequence of this was seen later in the second half when Rangers were briefly having some territorial ascendancy. Tired legs mean tired minds and they began gifting possession.

It was at this point that phase two of their strategy came to the fore: hit the deck as often as possible and hope that a benevolent referee provides you with lots of dead ball opportunities. And this one was buying most of them.  

It was significant that the overwhelming majority of Rangers’ efforts on goal came as a result of free kicks or corners. It was a stark admission by these players and their manager that in terms of pure footballing ability and fitness levels they are nowhere near Celtic.

Overall it was a low-key performance by the Hoops but four players were outstanding: take a bow Kyogo Furuhashi, Callum McGregor, Matt O’Riley and Alistair Johnston.

READ MORE: Why Matt O'Riley influenced Celtic 3-2 Rangers more than any other player

The Japanese striker scares the life out of opposition defences and none more so than the Rangers backline. Discounting the 4-0 game, where he was injured in the first minute, he has scored five in three games. 

McGregor, meanwhile, simply bullies the Rangers midfield. They can’t prevent him from getting onto the ball and they can’t prevent him from striding through them when he does.

O’Riley needed that game on Saturday. He was back at the level which characterised his play for much of last season and the first half of this one.

Johnston looks like he lives for games against Rangers. He has everything you need in a modern full-back and excels at them all. He has speed and strength on the ball and has begun to cross it with more accuracy.

Barely 48 hours have elapsed since Saturday’s game and already the Rangers captain has said he’s feeling “very confident” about the Scottish Cup semi-final while his boss is still talking about that Gap.

Celtic’s players are more entitled to speak of being confident going into this fixture. But they won’t. Part of this is out of respect for worthy opponents and part of it is because, no matter how much better you are than Rangers, you simply can’t afford to assume anything.

As for The Gap, Celtic supporters need not concern themselves with how large or small it is. It’s enough that it simply exists and that our great Glasgow rivals have become obsessed with this fact.