Rangers beat Lyon after Celtic draw

Rangers refused to relent after Ryan Kent’s first-half dismissal as they claimed an impressive 2-0 win over Lyon in their Veolia Trophy opener.

Celtic had earlier played out a 1-1 draw with Nice

Former Liverpool winger Kent looked to have rediscovered his best form after last year’s indifferent campaign, with his wizardry fooling the hosts’ Marcelo enough that he put through his own goal at the Groupama Stadium.

Ianis Hagi then capped an impressive first-half display as he swept home a second.

But Gers were forced to grind their way to victory when Kent aimed a petulant slap at the man he had forced into an own goal.

The Gers faithful watching at home had been relieved to see former Old Firm tormentor Moussa Dembele absent from Rudi Garcia’s starting line-up, but the ex-Celtic man was thrown on alongside onetime Manchester United man Memphis Depay with 20 minutes left.

However, Steven Gerrard’s team stood strong as they kicked off the pre-season tournament in France with a fine win.

And it will boost hopes that the Light Blues may be able to spring another surprise as they look to rescue a 3-1 Europa League deficit against

Bayer Leverkusen next month.

Patryk Klimala grabbed his first goal in Celtic colours as Neil Lennon’s 10-in-a-row hopefuls opened with a draw.

The Hoops re-emerged from their 131-day long coronavirus lockdown but there was little sign of ring rust as they quickly found their groove.

Odsonne Edouard thought he had grabbed an early opener but was denied by a strange VAR offside call as the television officials failed to spot that the ball had been played through to the former PSG man by Nice’s Jean-Victor Makengo.

There was more disappointment for the Parkhead side as Kasper Dolberg struck against the run of play just before halftime. But Polish substitute Klimala found the net for the first time since sealing a £3.5 million switch from Jagiellonia back in January to seal a draw.

Nice finished fifth in last season’s Ligue 1 and the result will give Lennon encouragement ahead of the attempt to seal a record-breaking 10th straight league title.

Former Dundee stopper Scott Bain – the only senior keeper at Lennon’s disposal following the departures of Fraser Forster and Craig Gordon – made a strong case for the starting role with a brilliant one-handed save to deny Dolberg.