Rangers Win at Celtic Park For The First Time Since October 2020

This season will be only the 7th where Rangers have beaten Celtic twice in a league season and not won the title (since the introduction of 4 fixtures in 1975)

Rangers secured a surprising yet enthralling 3-2 victory at Celtic Park, kicking off only 62 hours after they were taken to extra-time and penalties by Fenerbahçe on Thursday night. It was the ‘Gers first win away to their rivals in nearly 5 years - after a winless run which included 8 losses and 2 draws.

Following the 3-0 victory in the New Year Derby at Ibrox, today’s 3-2 win means it’s consecutive Rangers league wins against Celtic for the first time since they won 4-1 in May 2021 and 1-0 in August 2021 - both at Ibrox. It’s the first Rangers have recorded same season back-to-back Old Firm wins since their title winning campaign of 2020/21 (0-2 at Celtic Park in October 2020 and 1-0 at Ibrox in January 2021)

After the early Raskin header - the 8th time in the last 14 derbies that a goal has been scored inside the first 10 minutes - this full time result was on the cards, based on the history of this fixture. This is because, since November 1988, Rangers have never lost at Celtic Park when scoring first in the league - now winning 19 and drawing 4 of 23 such occasions. On that day over 35 years ago, Celtic stormed back to a 3-1 win after Mark Walters opened the scoring with a Rangers penalty.

Similarly, in the last nine league matches, the team that has scored first has won every game - except for the 3-3 draw at Ibrox in April 2024 when Daizen Maeda scored after only 21 seconds.

Rangers cut the gap at the top of the table to 13 points thanks to first half goals from Nico Raskin and Mohamed Diomande, before Hamza Igamane becomes the first Rangers player to score a winner at Celtic Park since Connor Goldson. He ended his 11-game goal drought with only a few minutes remaining after Daizen Maeda - scoring in his third derby this season - and Reo Hatate had dragged Celtic level.

The winner sparked scenes of unrest involving the police and the Celtic fans beside the Rangers dugout, with replays showing that the substituted Václav Černý squirted a water bottle on to the Celtic fans as he ran past in celebration:

The win also means that Barry Ferguson - Rangers interim manager - won on his first visit to Parkhead as manager, becoming the first man to do so as Rangers manager since Walter Smith 34 years ago. Back in August 1991, a Mark Hateley double secured Walter Smith a 2-0 victory, in his first visit as manager since replacing Graeme Souness earlier in the year after Souness left for Liverpool. Walter Smith then returned as manager for a second spell in 2007, also winning on his first return to Celtic Park (1-0, thanks to an Ugo Ehiogu overhead kick).

For Celtic, one of the only positives on a disappointing Sunday where they lost at home in the league for the first time since December 2023 (0-2 Vs Hearts) is that they continue their exceptional run of scoring 2+ goals. They’ve now scored at least two in every one of their last 27 domestic league or cup matches played at home - their longest such run in their 138 year history.

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DOMINATING THE DERBY BUT NOT WINNING THE TITLE

However with only eight games remaining in the league season, the league trophy will surely still be staying at Celtic Park for a 4th consecutive season. Since the top tier restructured to have 4 meetings in a league season in 1975, there have been only 6 seasons where Rangers have recorded two league victories versus Celtic and NOT won the league title.

These seasons were: