Rangers cut the lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to just two points as we headed into the international break with a win at the home of their biggest rivals.

Celtic came into this one off the back of two defeats against Rangers and Ferencvaros but had won six out of six in the league so far this season.

Rangers have won their last five in all competitions only conceding one goal including the 3-0 win against today’s opponents last week at Ibrox.

Celtic made three changes to the team that started against Ferencvaros in the Europa League on Thursday night as Auston Trusty, Luke McCowan and Benjamin Nygren have replaced Haissem Hassan, James Forrest and Oliver Sorensen.

Rangers named an unchanged side to the team that started last Sunday as they looked for a similar result in this game.

The first chance came to Rangers as Nico Raskin played through Djeidi Gassama but he couldn’t sort his feet out and Colby Donovan managed to get back and make a challenge before he could take a shot.

Celtic put the ball in the net after just six minutes from a free kick that was knocked on by Liam Scales to Camilo Duran but Scales was offside from the free kick delivery so the goal did not count.

Celtic had a trio of corners very quickly that were all put in the six yard box on top of the keeper but they were not able to trouble Ivor Pandur who caught the third delivery.

Dan Neil was in a similar position as he was to his goals last week as he received the ball but he hit it poorly and it was an easy stop for Viljami Sinisalo.

Sinisalo was called into action again as Neil put a cross in for Ryan Naderi to head towards goal but again it was easy for the Celtic keeper.

Celtic worked the ball well from right to left and Kieran Tierney hit the ball hard and had Pandur beaten but the ball smashes off the crossbar and out for a goal kick.

Rangers got a corner and it was cleared by Cameron Carter-Vickers out to Kim Min-su, it was a good save by Sinisalo but straight to Naderi who tapped in to put Rangers in front.

Rangers were so close to a second when Gassama went through on goal and dinked it over Sinisalo but hit the post and came out to Kevin Kelsy but his shot was blocked by Carter-Vickers and away as Celtic were hanging on by a thread.

As the half time whistle went Rangers were ahead and created the better chances but Celtic looked to have more control of the ball than last week and could be a threat at times.

Straight at the start of the second half Celtic went up the park and Colby Donovan had a header that was saved by Pandur and they couldn’t make anything of the ball as it bounced around the box as they looked for a quick response.

A good strike from Penrice was palmed out by Sinisalo and Naderi couldn’t latch on for another tap in.

Naderi got another chance from a header that he never connected with properly and it went wide.

Rangers got forward again as Kim Min-su managed to skip past a challenge from Callum McGregor but his long range shot went wide of the right hand post.

Rangers countered well again with a long ball to Naderi but his pass across to Kelsy was just over hit and the attack fizzled out.

 

Again it was Rangers who attacked well as Gassama and Kim link up and Naderi and Carter-Vickers fight for it on the line but it goes for a Rangers corner.

 

As we reached the last twenty minutes of the game there wasn’t a lot of quality and it was going from end to end with no quality in the final third.

 

Olwethu Makhanya sticks the ball in the back of the net with a stunning strike but it clearly hits his hand before he hits it and the goal is ruled out.

 

Rangers work the ball out to the left and it ends in a shot by Findlay Curtis but it’s a fairly routine save for Sinisalo.

 

It was Nico Raskin next to have a shot as he chips one over the keeper head but it goes right across the goal and out for a goal kick.

 

As we headed into four additional minutes Rangers were trying to see things out and push Celtic high up the pitch as Celtic were throwing caution to the wind to get an equaliser.

 

Celtic were throwing the ball into the box whenever possible but they weren’t able to make anything from it as the final whistle went and Rangers won their sixth game in a row and won at Celtic Park for the first time since 2024.

 

We head into an international break now and when they return Celtic face a trip to Fir Park to play Motherwell on Sunday 11th October.

 

As for Rangers they will return from the international break to face Kilmarnock at Ibrox on Saturday 10th October.

 

Celtic

Viljami Sinisalo, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Auston Trusty (Haissem Hassan 70) , Liam Scales (Shumaira Mheuka 90), Colby Donovan, Kieran Tierney, Mika Baur, Callum McGregor, Luke McCowan (Kasper Hogh 46), Benjamin Nygren (James Forrest 63), Camilo Duran (Sebastian Tounekti 70).

 

Rangers

Ivor Pandur, Dujon Sterling, Emmanuel Fernandez, Olwethu Makhanya, James Penrice (Ben Godfrey 76), Dan Neil (Tochi Chuckwuani 89), Nico Raskin, Kim Min-su (Finday Curtis 72) , Djeidi Gassama (Badredine Bouanani 72), Ryan Naderi, Kevin Kelsy (Cameron Devlin 89).