Sky Sports’ Eilidh Barbour kicked off the coverage of the Glasgow Derby by claiming that it was the closest title race in thirteen years. Bizarrely, pundits appear to have forgotten that in Ange Postecoglou’s first season at the club, he mounted a comeback against Steven Gerrard and then Giovanni van Bronckhorst, which resulted in the teams meeting at Ibrox at the beginning of April with just three points between the teams.
A narrative has crept in that Ange’s two seasons at Celtic were walkovers against weaker Rangers teams. However, it was a team that ended up in a European Final. Going into the game at Ibrox, the game was on a knife-edge. It is strange that Ange’s achievements in his first season have been written off. The title that season was secured on the second last game of the season with a draw at Tannadice.
Going back to that game in April 2022, Celtic travelled to Ibrox with the narrative being that the winners would have a major advantage in the hunt for the title as Rangers would pull level on points (but not goal difference). Fortunately, Ange’s Celtic came from behind thanks to goals from Tom Rogic and Cameron Carter-Vickers to take all three points and go six points clear.
Rangers enjoyed a perfect start with Juventus loanee Aaron Ramsey capitalising on an uncharacteristic positional mishap from Josip Juranovic to slide in a Ryan Kent cross. Ibrox erupted. Less than five minutes later, Celtic settled and thanks to Tom Rogic, they silenced the home support and sent the 700 fans in the corner into wild celebrations. Captain Callum McGregor drove beyond three Rangers players before finding Rogic in the box. His initial touch and shot was blocked by Goldson but Hatate’s shot could only be parried to the Australian, who slotted it away on the half volley.
The winner came from an unlikely source. Carter-Vickers showed a striker’s instinct as he flashed a knockdown from a Jota freekick. Rangers allowed the ball to bounce and the USA Internationalist fired the ball into the net. The goal sparked scenes of ecstasy in the Celtic end. The halftime scenes from the away end were jubilant. The turnaround silenced the Rangers support.
The second half saw Celtic retreat into their own half opting to allow Rangers the ball wide and cross – for Starfelt and Carter-Vickers to header clear.
Celtic were robust at the back and tenacious in the press. Maeda and Giakoumakis typified the work rate across the team, working back and finding themselves in defensive areas doing their bit for the team. It was a different Celtic performance to what we have been accustomed to under Ange but it was such an important win.
There is no escaping how close this game is and the importance of the fixture on the destination of the title; however, it is unfair to say that this is the closest title challenge since 2010/11.