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Rangers beat Celtic for the first time since 2021 in the league in the final old firm match of the season.
Celtic were looking to break their points record before the game, knowing they had to win every game to do it. Rangers wanted to get some revenge after Celtic knocked them out of the Scottish Cup last month.
Rangers came out of the blocks fast with an early goal from Todd Cantwell, after Joe Hart palmed a John Lundstram shot, Cantwell struck it low and hard through Hart’s legs.
Celtic responded quickly with Oh Hyeon-gyu hitting the woodwork. But it was the home side who struck next, from a corner John Soutar headed into the Celtic net to give the Ibrox side a two-goal lead at halftime.
Rangers continued the onslaught into the second half by scoring a third goal through Sakala after a mix-up at the back for Celtic. Rangers won the game 3-0 much to the joy of the Govan team’s support.
Rangers manager Michael Beale had this to say about his team’s performance, “The atmosphere was fantastic. It gave energy to the team on top of the energy we gave them. [The game] wasn’t too dissimilar to the last two [Old Firm] games.”
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou was disappointed with his team’s second-half performance stating “Second half we lost our way a little bit. I don’t set the standards, the football club does. You have to embrace that as a manager or a player or you won’t succeed here.”
Before the match, there was the issue of whether the Rangers players would give the Celtic team a guard of honour for winning the league the previous week at Tynecastle.
Rangers boss Michael Beale said this about the guard of honour, “Because in the past it has been turned down and hasn’t been done. So, I don’t think they would want us to. And in a stadium of our fans, I don’t think it would be the right thing to do either.
“We have a lot of respect for them in terms of winning the league. They have been clearly the best team – the league table doesn’t lie. But that has been dealt with in the past so that has been taken out of my hands, thankfully.”
