Celtic slip up at Kilmarnock after Alfredo Morelos scores Rangers double
Chris Burke’s penalty gave Kilmarnock a precious home Premiership point against below-par Celtic.
The midfielder Ryan Christie opened the scoring for the champions with a free-kick from distance after 10 minutes but the veteran winger equalised in the 24th minute from a spotkick conceded by the unconvincing defender Christopher Jullien.
Celtic scored with their first shot after Gary Dicker had been booked for a foul on Odsonne Edouard 30 yards from goal. Christie stepped up and rather casually bent the free-kick past Danny Rogers, making his first start for Kilmarnock.
Their equaliser came when Jullien first allowed Rory McKenzie to keep the ball in play down the flank and then tangled clumsily with Kabamba on the byline inside the box. The referee, Alan Muir, pointed to the spot and the 36year-old Burke steered the ball low past the diving debutant Vasilis Barkas for his second goal in two games.
Neil Lennon’s side stepped up the tempo after the break but all the huffing and puffing came to nothing against a disciplined, well-organised Kilmarnock who defended as if their lives depended on it.
Steven Gerrard hailed Alfredo Morelos after revealing a pre-match pep talk sparked the Rangers striker back into life. Morelos grabbed his first league goals of 2020 with a double in Rangers’ 3-0 win over St Mirren.
It was a much livelier display from the Colombian than he managed during Thursday’s Europa League defeat by Bayer Leverkusen.
Gerrard admitted after that display that the player’s head had been “turned” by interest from Lille but he was fulsome in his praise after watching Morelos strike twice having also played a key role in Conor McCarthy’s first-half own goal.
“He certainly deserved the man of the match,” the Rangers manager said. “I thought his focus was really strong. He got a good assist and two goals and I thought his all-round play deserved those numbers. We spoke to the whole group about Thursday’s performance and how the performance had to be better.
“I did have a private chat with Alfredo
about his own performance. He acknowledged the fact he could have been better but he wasn’t the only one. I think as a group we could have been better on Thursday night. There was no finger-pointing individually but I do speak to the players and get a feel for what they are feeling. Alfredo was well aware he needed to perform a little bit better.
“He certainly showed a great reaction. From the first whistle until the end, it was a really strong Morelos performance.”