Key events
72 min: Tavernier launches a long throw before Ridvan winds up for a hit from outside the area; he doesn’t get the required connection as Celtic breakaway.
70 min: Jota is replaced by Yang with 20 minutes of normal time to go. Cerny finds the ball in the right channel but can’t find power on a cross to Dessers.
68 min: It’s all a bit scrappy, players sliding around, passes not really going anywhere. Derby stuff.
65 min: Rangers make a change, with Diomande off for Hagi.
64 min: Maeda somehow get through a wall of blue shirts to find McCowan in the area, the low left-footed shot dragged just wide of the post.
62 min: Nearly a howler as Carter-Vickers doesn’t get a foot down on a pass back to him, with Dessers trying to hop on to the ball, just Schmeichel to beat if he gets there. He doesn’t and Celtic play away to safety.
60 min: Rangers win a free-kick just outside their area as Engels gets stuck taking too many touches.
58 min: Celtic, as they did in the first half, are trying to move past Rangers using the right channel. Ridvan, pressing high, gets in the way of a pass to prompt a throw.
56 min: A change for Rangers, as Balogun, presumably struggling with something, is replaced by Robin Pröpper at the back.
55 min: Raskin heads away the corner but the ball drops nicely for Hatate, waiting in the area past the far post. His volley finds the side-netting.
54 min: Ferguson provides some advice to Tavernier before McCowan plays a delightful ball into the area, hoping to find the run of Maeda. A Celtic corner is the end result.
51 min: Celtic were beginning to click together near the end of the first half; the waves of attack should come regularly now.
Butland’s kick out from the back finds Hatate as Celtic work the ball nicely out to the right-hand side … the cross from Jota is held up nicely towards the far post where Maeda leaps high to head in from close range.
GOAL! Celtic 1-2 Rangers (Maeda 49)
Game on!
46 min: Celtic kick things off and knock it around at the back, but there are a couple of sloppy passes that find blue shirts.
Celtic have made a change in attack, with Idah on for Kühn. Off we go for the second half.
Just watching back that second goal … it’s a top run from Raskin into the area to attract the attention of Celtic’s defence, freeing up Diomande in the middle. The awareness of the Belgian, with that deft flick, is superb too.
HALF-TIME: Celtic 0-2 Rangers
A genuinely thrilling half of football. Rangers are well positioned for the upset; Celtic have been off it, only finding some rhythm after that second goal.
45+1 min: Two minutes are added on as Jota cuts in from the left and launches a dipping hit from around 25 yards, the ball travelling just wide. He’s been causing some bother in the last few minutes.
43 min: What a block from Sterling! Jota whips in from the left, Maeda gets a glancing header on it and Sterling, facing his own goal, somehow diverts the ball away for a corner. Butland then saves after a header from the set-piece. Celtic are finally clicking into gear.
42 min: … and out comes a yellow for Barry Ferguson, for reasons not entirely clear to me. Jota busts into life on the left, driving into the area before getting a shot away, a corner the end result.
41 min: Barry Ferguson is loving life on the touchline.
Tavernier dinks in a ball from the right into the area … Raskin runs in to glance a header into the middle, where Diomande takes it down before finding the bottom left corner. It’s a wonderful goal and, I have to say, well deserved, too.
GOAL! Celtic 0-2 Rangers (Diomande 37)
A stunning move from Rangers!
37 min: It’s another mishit from Schmeichel at the back, underhitting a pass … the relentless Ridvan thunders forward to try and get on the end of it and capitalise. He’s been very impressive thus far.
35 min: Engels stands over a Celtic free-kick that is taken by Kühn. It’s a very poor one, a cross from centre-left that safely heads out for a Butland goalkick.
33 min: Ridvan does brilliantly at the back, nicking the ball to start a move forward … but Dessers, trying to find Cerny on the right, gets his pass wrong. A corner is what they settle for, with Balogun heading straight towards Schmeichel.
30 min: Sterling intervenes in the Rangers area to brush away a low cross, the Celtic attack ending with a blast from range that sails high. It’s been a frustrating first half-hour for the league leaders, one where they’ve looked a touch sloppy at the back.
28 min: Diomande gets a hold of the ball in the middle and looks set to slip in Dessers but overhits his pass.
27 min: So very nearly an own goal! The corner comes in, Balogun heads towards the far post, with Engels nearly diverting the ball into his own net before Schmeichel intervenes.
26 min: Cerny dances into the area and tries to cut back a ball for Diomande but Nawrocki holds his own, blocking the ball out for a corner.
24 min: Tavernier, up by the halfway line, gets in Schlupp’s way before Johnston makes a fine run into the Rangers area, the ball over the top finding him and prompting a corner. Carter-Vickers heads high over the bar from the outswinging corner.
22 min: Johnston is feeling his way into the game out on Celtic’s right, driving forward and looking to cut through the lines with his passing.
19 min: Celtic try and work it around but Rangers are quite ferocious with their pressing, amped up by their lead.
16 min: Oh my, it should be 2-0 to Rangers. Schmeichel, outside his area, misplaces a pass to Cerny who, instead of shooting first-time, tries to dribble into the area and round Schmeichel. The angle for a shot is cut-off and Celtic get away with it, the ball going out for a corner that leads to nothing.
15 min: The game has become a bit stop-start after the fluency of the first 10.
14 min: The ball is stuck on Rangers’ right, throw-ins aplenty.
12 min: … Jota’s inswinger is headed away by Balogun, who was fighting it out with Carter-Vickers.
11 min: It’s all a bit chaotic at the moment. Celtic have a corner from the left …
9 min: Cerny launches an ambitious hit from around 20 yards, the ball falling nicely for a one-bounce effort. It travels wide before Celtic advance forward … and Butland makes a cracking save. Hatate found space just outside the D, trying to curl the ball into the top left corner. It was a fine hit, but Butland moved quickly.
6 min: Celtic finally get moving, Maeda’s first-time shot in the area – the cross coming from the right – travelling wide. The flag was up for offside anyway.
The corner comes in from Tavernier and Raskin leaps high at the front post, guiding his header to the far corner, past Schmeichel. The visiting supporters – back here after some time – are jubilant. Barry Ferguson gets the fist pumps going.
GOAL! Celtic 0-1 Rangers (Raskin 4)
What a start for the visitors!
3 min: Ooooh, top save from Schmeichel, diving to his right to tip round a stinging strike from Raskin. A corner for Rangers …
2 min: Schlupp is into the action again, heading away the corner for a throw-in. Tavernier sends it long, into the area, with Celtic unable to properly get rid. Rangers have another throw …
1 min: Rangers win an early free-kick on the right, with Tavernier and Cerny by the ball. Tavernier whips it in and Schlupp clears out for a corner.
Peeeeep!
You’ll Never Walk Alone rings out. Rangers kick things off. Let’s play!
Right, just a few minutes away from getting going. Celtic Park awaits.
Simon McMahon is only using this as a starter.
Celtic Rangers is always an, eh, occasion. Hoping for a few
red cardsgoals today to whet the appetite for the main event at 3 o’clock at Tannadice, the days proper derby between Europe chasing Dundee United and relegation chasing Dundee…
Barry Ferguson has been speaking to his old teammate Kris Boyd: “There’ll be no excuses in terms of, ‘There was a game on Thursday, I’m feeling a bit leggy’. I’ll talk to them. And if anybody has got any doubt in their mind they won’t be playing. I need people who are 100% focused. You’re never 100% fit going into a game but I need guys who are basically going to go to war.”
It’s a serious fitness test for Rangers, with 10 starters present from Thursday night. Nick Ames was there to take it in.
The teams
We have our XIs. Celtic are without their injured captain Callum McGregor and missing Auston Trusty at the back, too. In come Maik Nawrocki and Luke McCowan. Rangers have just one change from midweek: Ridvan Yilmaz replaces Jefté.
Celtic: Schmeichel, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Nawrocki, Schlupp, McCowan, Engels, Hatate, Jota, Kühn, Maeda
Subs: Sinisalo, Taylor, Idah, Yang, Kenny, Murray, Ralston, Bonnar, Turley
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Souttar, Balogun, Ridvan, Sterling, Barron, Raskin, Diomande, Cerny, Dessers
Subs: Kelly, Pröpper, Lawrence, Bajrami, Nsiala, Igamane, Hagi, Rice, Danilo
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to our coverage of a highly significant Old Firm clash. Visiting supporters will be present, a resolution found over the question of ticket allocations. Around 2,400 Rangers fans will roar at Celtic Park this afternoon.
But this is no title clash. Celtic are way out in front, 16 points ahead of their rivals, Brendan Rodgers eyeing up another domestic treble. Rangers, though, still have the excitement of Europe, through to the quarter-finals of the Europa League after Jack Butland’s heroism against Fenerbahce on Thursday evening. That adrenaline, presumably still pumping, will have to make up for the fatigue of playing through extra time.
And then there’s the Barry Ferguson element, the old captain turned manager, ready for the heat that’ll come his way on the touchline, 16 years on from his last runaround in this fixture. It’ll be fun. Kick-off’s at 12.30pm GMT.
