Dembele crashes the party with first derby hat-trick for 50 years
MOUSSA DEMBELE, only handed a start because of injury to Leigh Griffiths, fired a stunning hat-trick as Old Firm hostilities were resumed with a Celtic romp.
Dembele was preparing for a place on the bench as Glasgow braced itself for its first CelticRangers league clash in four years.
But after Griffiths was ruled out with a hamstring problem, 20-yearold Dembele took centre-stage, bagging Celtic’s first two and adding a third towards the end of a one-sided affair. It was the first Old Firm hat-trick for 50 years and the margin of Celtic’s victory in no way flattered them.
Scott Sinclair and Stuart Armstrong also found the target for the champions with Joe Garner heading a reply for Rangers, who had centre-back Philippe Senderos sent off to cap a miserable day.
Scott Brown, the Celtic skipper who had been locked in a war of words with Rangers’ Joey Barton in the build-up to the eagerly-awaited clash, said afterwards it was men against boys.
Rangers, determined to make a mark on their top-flight return to their bitter rivals, started brightly enough, but once Dembele had broken the deadlock they fell to pieces.
Embarrassingly dumped out of the Scottish Cup by Rangers — then of the Championship — last season, the home fans loved every minute of this thrilling revenge job.
And Brown, inevitably, could not resist the opportunity to taunt Barton, with whom he had been exchanging words all week.
When asked what he thought of his on-pitch battle with Barton, Brown mocked: ‘Easy. It wasn’t a problem. There was no battling whatsoever. I think the scoreline speaks for itself. It was men versus boys.’
The biggest smile of the day belonged to Dembele, one of new boss Brendan Rodgers’s big summer signings, who couldn’t have dreamed of making such a match-winning impact.
With top scorer Griffiths injured — he has also been ruled out of the Champions League trip to Barcelona — the pressure was on former Fulham star Dembele but he responded in style.
His first goal was a close-range header from a Scott Sinclair corner, his second a cool finish after leaving Senderos on his backside and he completed his treble by driving a low shot beyond keeper Wes Foderingham. Rodgers could not have been prouder and had a grin as wide as the Clyde as he saluted the supporters at the end of a victory that puts his team two points clear with a 100 per cent record at the top of the table. But there was a discernible catch in his voice as he articulated the significance of what had been achieved in his maiden Old Firm match.
‘I spoke about Jock Stein in my team talk,’ said the former Liverpool boss. ‘There were two [anniversaries] today. My father is five years dead today and obviously Jock Stein [died] 31 years today. It was primarily about the guy looking down, the man who set the tone for this club, the template. We said that if he is looking down make sure we do him proud.’
Rangers boss Mark Warburton accepted the blame for his side’s crushing defeat after going for broke at 3-1 down. He threw on forwards Martyn Waghorn and Harry Forrester but the move backfired. ‘We’re obviously disappointed,’ he said. ‘We felt comfortable but goals change games.’
Celtic are now unbeaten in 17 games in all competitions and their dominant performance sets them up nicely for Tuesday’s game against Barcelona.
For Rangers, however, this was a thumping reminder of how far they’ve got to go if they want to start challenging the Bhoys for title glory.