CELTIC FANS REJOICE AS HOOPS BEAT RANGERS 3-0

Another great night under the lights for Celtic as they beat biggest rivals Rangers in last night’s Old Firm Derby. 2 goals from Reo Hatate and a simple finish from Liel Abada sealed the win for the Hoops.

Ange Postecoglou’s side were fired up from minute one and proceeded to get successive corners in the first few minutes of the match.

They had Rangers pinned into their own defensive third and looked a real threat every time they burst forward with the ball.

The first goal of the match came early after just 5 minutes with Matt O’Reilly’s corner in the box deflecting out for Reo Hatate to strike sweetly with his right foot into the bottom corner of the visiting net.

The already upbeat Celtic fans went into uproar with joy. Their team had flown out of the traps and caught out a slow starting Rangers.

Giovanni van Bronkhorst’s men were continually being held in their own half for the majority of the game, however one chance came from a simple through ball between the Celtic defenders to Kemar Roofe who was ultimately stopped by Joe Hart who grasped the ball off the feet of the centre-forward.

Seconds later Celtic had burst down the other end with wonderful movement and skill and inch-perfect passing, the ball found its way to the man who opened the scoring, Reo Hatate.

Hatate saw the spot he wanted to hit and executed it with delicate precision almost like he was just passing it into the net past Conor Goldson and Alan McGregor. The Rangers net bulged for a second time inside the first half and the visitors were caught out once more.

Celtic’s play was relentless in the first half and not giving Rangers a chance to catch their breath. The third goal did come before the break when Reo Hatate, yes Reo Hatate, played a cross into the box for Liel Abada to meet 5 yards from goal and slot home the host’s third of the night.

Rangers again caught napping for a third time and they certainly paid their price for that. The second half was less eventful with Celtic just managing the game more. Despite Rangers making three changes at the interval they couldn’t break down Celtic and penetrate their goal.

So another great night for Celtic against their rivals. Prior to the game Celtic had failed to beat Rangers since the League Cup final in December 2019, 787 days ago.

Celtic’s win means they leapfrog Rangers and steal top spot in the Premiership with a one point advantage over their Glasgow rivals. Both teams return to action at the weekend as Celtic travel to Fir Park to face Motherwell and Rangers return home at Ibrox to face Hearts. Both games are on Sunday and live on Sky Sports.