It was the flawless start for Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers in his first Old Firm match in charge.
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Twenty-year-old striker Moussa Dembele was the star of the show, netting a sensational hat-trick.
Asked who came out on top in their duel, he replied: “I think the scoreline talks for itself”. We are much better than we showed today. It is a different team and certainly a different mentality.
“Front foot, aggressive, no fear and when things go against you have that mentality to bounce back”.
At odds of 66/1, punters can also bet on Celtic captain Scott Brown and outspoken Rangers midfielder Joey Barton both being sent-off following weeks of verbal sparring between the pair.
“Leigh is a wonderful finisher but it wasn’t his day today, it was Moussa’s day and the rest of the guys”. The signing of the 31-year-old was a risk and Warburton is not yet getting the rewards. “I’m obviously disappointed but that’s not strong enough in terms of a description”, he said.
Unlike previous seasons, Aberdeen, and Celtic, will have to contend with the might of Mark Warburton’s Rangers. Celtic kept pressing and Dembele grabbed his third when he had a time and space to take down a Mikael Lustig cross and fired into the far corner, with Armstrong adding more salt to some very blue wounds when he made it 5-1 in added time.
We’re not even sure how they’ve done this.
‘When we did have those spells – 20 minutes first half, 15 minutes second half – we were fine.
“We felt comfortable, but goals change games”.
“So we had David Weir sent to the stand, and they had 11 men on the pitch”. Some slack passing saw Rangers continually give possession away cheaply and it was a poor pass from Rob Kiernan which led to Celtic’s second.
“I don’t want our fans to think this is taken lightly, we’ve got a proper inquest in there”.
“The sending-off, I can’t defend, it’s a red card but we had a choice to make, do we go for damage limitation or do we look to try and get something out of the game”.
While the result was unwelcome, Wallace was at least pleased to see Garner get of the mark by hitting the back of the net and feels his team-mate will be delighted.
“The supporters were incredible and they lifted the team”.
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Demeble’s trio of goals was the first in the fixture since 1984, when Ally McCoist bagged the match ball as Rangers claimed the League Cup with a 3-2 win in the Hampden final. “And I don’t see a major gulf there”. They absolutely have the bragging rights and deserved to win. We appreciate the significance of this game, but like we said going into the cup semi previous year, it’s about what we do.
