By Alistair Aird
Ibrox Stadium celebrated its 125th birthday on Monday. And since the first fixture against Hearts on 30 December 1899, the patrons that have attended games have witnessed many twists and turns as the tapestry that makes up the history of Rangers Football Club has been woven. Fortunes have ebbed and flowed; times of triumph being interspersed with times of trouble too. Life has indeed been a rollercoaster but there aren’t many matches that play with emotions quite like an Old Firm game. But this one felt different. It was flat, and there was an apparent apathy even before a ball was kicked. And that was due in no small part to the last two fixtures that Rangers have played.
After the 1-0 win over Dundee at Ibrox and Celtic’s subsequent 0-0 draw at Tannadice, there seemed to be scope that the title race could have been reignited with a home win this afternoon. Victories over St Mirren and Motherwell would have provided the platform to slash the gap at the summit of the Premiership table to just six points. But what the Rangers fans didn’t account for was for the return of silly season when it came to team selection.
Apparently based on data received from his team of sports scientists, key protagonists were wrapped up in cotton wool for those two pivotal away fixtures and the upshot was one point from six. And rather than letting the team from the other side of Glasgow know that his side were now breathing down their necks, Clement had seemingly yielded once again. His coat hasn’t been far from the shoogly peg for most of this season, and it was very much back on it now.
The loss of two pillars of the Phillipe Clement era in the lead up to the game did little to stir the spirits of the Rangers fans.
Clement has been in charge for 73 competitive matches. James Tavernier has played minutes in all bar one of them – he was an unused substitute in the 1-1 draw against Dundee United this season – while Jack Butland has been in goal 71 times under the Belgian. Unfortunately, neither would feature in this one. Tavernier had picked up an injury against Motherwell, while Butland, whose recent form has drawn criticism, was ruled out after being admitted to hospital with an internal bleed in his leg.
With reinforcements for Tavernier limited, some expected that Leon King would come into the team. He would assume his natural position of centre back, with Dujon Sterling shifting out to right back. Even though King had only played 214 minutes under Clement, that made sense. But when of late has there been any rhyme or reason to a team that the Rangers manager has selected? And it looked like this one would be no different.
In at right back came a left back, Ridvan Yilmaz, and given how torrid a time Daizen Maeda usually gave Tavernier in these fixtures, the selection of the young Turk did little to convince those descending on a freezing Ibrox that Rangers were about to redress the balance and inflict a thrashing on the visitors. They, like many others, would be proven wrong. The manager got this one spot on, with Ridvan going on to have a very accomplished match.
In the absence of captain and vice-captain, Nico Raskin was handed the armband. The diminutive Belgian has been excellent recently and deserved the honour. Alongside Mo Diomande, his dynamism would be important. And Raskin also had something to his credit that not too many others in blue did; he had tasted victory in an Old Firm game. That was back in May 2023, remarkably Rangers’ solitary victory in the last 14 matches against Celtic. Ridvan Yilmaz and Ianis Hagi were the only others in the starting XI for this match that had played a part in a Todd Cantwell-inspired 3-0 win.
In the forward areas, it was no surprise that the light amongst the recent gloom – Hamza Igamane – was selected at centre forward. The Moroccan’s brace against Motherwell took his tally to eight in 20 appearances, although with his actual minutes played sitting at 946, that amounts to a very decent ratio of a goal every 118 minutes.
Behind Igamane were Vaclav Cerny – apparently too tired to start at Fir Park – Nedim Bajrami and Ianis Hagi. That meant the same front four that started the League Cup Final at Hampden were selected again. And that quartet had managed something that many before them hadn’t, fashion a move that broke the deadlock in an Old Firm match. That was the only time Rangers have opened the scoring in the past 10 matches against Celtic. Could history repeat itself on this occasion?
The match was preceded by a moment of poignancy as those present stood in silence to mark 54 years since 66 Rangers supporters went to a game of football and never came home. As much as the absence of opposition supporters has sucked some of the atmosphere out of these fixtures, on occasions such as this it was much better that Celtic fans weren’t present. Their desecration of the silence would have been inevitable.
In matches of this ilk that have gone before, the opening exchanges are key. It’s blood and thunder. No quarter should be asked or given. And one thing not to do is concede an early goal. But Rangers were almost behind after less than two minutes. McGregor’s cross ping ponged around the box and somehow Kyogo couldn’t get a telling touch to nudge the ball beyond Liam Kelly.
The ping pong then moved to the other end. Diomande picked McGregor’s pocket, and the ball was funnelled wide to Cerny. His cross broke to Bajrami and the Albanian had two blasts towards goal that were blocked. But moments later Ibrox exploded with joy.
Captain Raskin played his part, cutting out a wayward pass from Scales before advancing towards goal. He laid a perfect pass into the path of Hagi and his low left foot shot skimmed over the grass and the ball nestled in the far corner. For a bedraggled and beleaguered Rangers, it was the perfect start.
In stark contrast to matches in Motherwell and Paisely, Rangers were relishing the challenge. Cerny cut in onto his favoured left foot and his deflected shot scudded off the top of the crossbar. Celtic were rattled, Rangers relentless.
Although the visitors had enjoyed more possession in the opening 20 minutes – 61% to be exact – Rangers had registered six shots at goal compared to just one from Celtic. Two of them had been on target, with the other four blocked. Raskin and Diomande were dominating the midfield battle too. This was much more like it, and the fans, in full voice, wanted no mercy to be shown.
After 26 minutes, some fine play from Hagi almost yielded a goal. Bajrami fed the ball to Cerny and the overlapping Ridvan set his sights but skewed his shot into the side netting. And that kicked off a spell of pressure that saw Celtic pegged back. As has been the case so many times in the past, they don’t like being pressed high – something that has never been exploited – and there was no let up from Rangers. They were terrier-like, snapping into tackles and suffocating Celtic at every opportunity. And when they had the ball, they worked some promising openings, with the impressive Hagi often the fulcrum of the creativity.
After 38 minutes there were two superb interventions, one at each end. Dujon Sterling was first to put his body on the line to thwart Kuhn before Carter Vickers slid in to deny Diomande. It was breathtaking stuff.
Ridvan, flying in the face of the questions over his suitability to play at right back, sliced another shot wide of goal as half time approached. The apathy and flatness that had perhaps been around at the outset was now conspicuous by its absence. Rangers had been excellent, with Celtic struggling to stem the tide that rolled towards the Broomloan Road end of the blue sea of Ibrox. The lack of what would have been a richly deserved second goal was probably the only thing that the home fans could complain about at the interval. Liam Kelly’s only real involvement was a stoppage time save from a shot from Hatate.
There was a flare up shortly after the half time whistle sounded. McGregor, already booked, looked to have aimed a kick at Raskin, but rather than seeing red, the Celtic captain emerged without sanction while his Rangers counterpart was shown a yellow card. There was no option for VAR intervention to take retrospective action either. It was yet another incident to swell an already well-populated file of cases where Celtic have profited from the decision of the match officials.
As darkness descended, two unchanged teams came out for the start of the second half. Just as we had seen at Hampden, you expected a response from Celtic, and Sterling had to nip in to take the ball off the toes of Kyogo. He did the same again moments later as Rangers made an uncertain start.
Kyogo thought he had equalised after 53 minutes when he lobbed Kelly, but his celebrations were cut short by the raised flag of the assistant referee. The decision was upheld after the customary lines were drawn by the VAR officials although given the standard of decision making lately, that was by no means a certainty.
Rangers, who were coming into this match off the back of two matches in which they had only really played for one half in each, hadn’t really started and their recent track record created a nervousness in the stands. Hagi tried his best to eradicate that, fizzing in a cross that was punched clear by Schmeichel.
That raised the volume once again and the roof should have been blown off the stadium when Cerny was played in on goal by Raskin on the hour mark. The Czech winger did everything right, cutting in on to his favoured left foot, but his curled effort kissed the inside of the far post. It was agonisingly close to what would have been a killer second goal.
Rodgers made three changes shortly afterwards. Valle, McCowan and Idah were introduced, with Kyogo, Taylor and Bernardo making way. But it didn’t have the necessary impact. In fact, the first thing the trio witnessed was the concession of a second goal.
Cerny drew a diving save from Schmeichel and from the resulting corner – yes, a corner – Rangers scored. Raskin powered in a header that was saved and when the ball broke loose, the much-maligned Robin Propper popped up at the back post to score and send the Rangers supporters to utopia. And they were almost in the thralls of ecstasy again three minutes later when Ridvan scudded in a shot that had Schmeichel scrambling across his goal to save.
The contrast in this version of Rangers to the one we had seen in the first half against St Mirren and Motherwell was as stark as it could be. They were completely dominant, with Diomande and Raskin the standouts. It had been a long time since the supposedly all-conquering Celtic had been nullified as comprehensively as this.
Tired legs were inevitable as the game moved into the final 15 minutes and that was summed up when Igamane and Bajrami broke. The Moroccan just needed to execute the pass correctly and the Albanian was in on goal, but he undercooked it which allowed Carter Vickers to cut out the danger.
Recognising this, Clement looked to freshen things up by introducing Danilo for Bajrami. And within a matter of moments, the Brazilian had his name on the scoresheet. Jefte broke up a Celtic attack and forged forward. Once in the box, he sclaffed the ball across goal into the path of Danilo who beat Schmeichel with aplomb. Cue bedlam on the pitch and in the stands.
No one could have foreseen this outcome at 3pm. Indeed, had you said the final score would have been a 3-0 win, then very few would have said that would have been in the favour of Rangers. But on this evidence, Clement’s Class of 2025 is certainly much more pleasing on the eye than the guise they had adopted for much of the latter part of 2024. They are much more clinical too.
The damage done by the dropped points between Christmas and New Year may on reflection prove to be fatal in the long term, but this isn’t the time to dwell on that. The deliciously satisfying taste of an Old Firm victory isn’t something that has tickled the tastebuds of those affiliated with Rangers in recent times. That’s why the supporters deserve to dine out on the memory of this one for some time to come. There is still a long way to go and there have been too many false dawns to get too carried away. But maybe just maybe the result will be the turning point for the ‘project’, one that will see the balance of power finally shift back towards the blue half of Glasgow.
