Too small for Disneyland but rampant Hoops are too good for Rangers
CELTIC 4
Abada (8, 39), Jota (31), Turnbull (78) RANGERS 0
Welcoming Oliver Abildgaard into the fold, Ange Postecoglou said the 6ft 4in Dane would bring a welcome bit of height to his club.
Most of his side, the Celtic manager joked, would struggle to get on the rides at Disneyland.
As with most successful comedy, there was a bit of truth to his gag – the three scorers in this startlingly one-sided Old Firm derby are all under 6ft tall.
Nevertheless, they and their team-mates towered over their historic rivals.
In the corresponding fixture at the beginning of February, Celtic ran out 3-0 winners. This was better, much better.
“I’m really proud of the group again. We know the occasion. It was a big game for our club and supporters,” said Postecoglou.
“Rangers are a very good team so we knew going into it that it would be a challenge.
“But the boys were outstanding from start to finish.”
The start he mentioned was truly sensational.
First, Celtic’s talisman Kyogo Furuhashi was forced to go off after picking up an injury inside 25 seconds.
Rangers midfielder John Lundstram went into a challenge with the Japanese, who dropped to one knee clutching his shoulder.
After receiving treatment, he attempted to run it off but was clearly in distress and set off across the pitch to make way for Giorgios Giakoumakis.
Remarkably, however, the Hoops shrugged off the loss of their star striker by storming into the lead.
Jota’s pressing on the wing won his side a throw-in on the left. He took it himself and found Matt O’Riley, who hooked the ball back to the fast arriving Liel Abada.
The forward likewise only needed one touch, angling a shot that Rangers keeper Jon McLaughlin got a touch to before it ended in the far corner of the net.
It set the tempo for the game, which continued at a furious pace, with plenty of action – at both ends.
Giakoumakis missed a great chance to make it 2-0 when he headed from a lovely flowing Celtic move.
Then Antonio Colak, so prolific of late, passed up a similar opportunity to equalise when
found in space by a beauty of a cross from Borna Barisic.
It was a failure he was soon to have extra cause to regret as Celtic doubled, then trebled, their advantage before the interval.
Jota got the second with the coolest of dinks over McLaughlin after being teed up by a lovely through-ball from O’Riley, which caught the Rangers defenders flatfooted.
Then Abada, relishing the stage, got another – again from a throw-in. Greg Taylor this time supplied the assist for the forward, who added insult to injury when driving his shot through McLaughlin’s legs.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst had to do something to try to turn things around at half-time and it was Glen Kamara who paid the penalty for his side’s struggles when he was withdrawn to make way for Scott Wright.
It helped a bit but not enough, and soon Scott Arfield and Alfredo Morelos were also added into the mix. Ryan Jack and Fashion Sakala joined later.
Celtic brought fresh legs on themselves with Aaron Mooy, David Turnbull and Daizen Maeda all joining the fray. With Mortiz Jenz already on for the injured Carl Starfelt, it completed their quota of substitutes for the day.
Of the new-look elevens, it was the home team who again came out on top due to an astonishing blunder from McLaughlin.
Under no obvious pressure, the Rangers keeper played a pass straight to Turnbull who, scarcely able to believe his luck, sent it right back past him and into the net.
The howls from the band of visiting supporters told its own story. Four goals down in the derby with only a few minutes left was not a great time to volunteer yourself as a scapegoat.
It prompted further analysis of his part in the opposition’s previous goals, and he did not exactly sparkle in trying to keep any of them out.
The keeper could not even point to any great stops throughout the rest of the game in mitigation.
Where Allan McGregor’s heroics in the fixture came to almost be taken for granted, here they were notable by their absence.
With Ajax next to be faced in midweek, it will be fascinating to see who Rangers give the gloves to in Amsterdam.
Final word, though, to Postecoglou when asked about Celtic’s prospects of retaining the title: “If we continue to play like that, we’re going to be hard to stop.”
It was impossible to disagree.