Rangers beat Celtic for the second time in seven days, with Ryan Naderi’s rebound securing a victory that moved them to within two points of their Old Firm rivals at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
The result deepened Celtic’s difficult week, coming after their League Cup defeat at Ibrox and a Europa League loss to Ferencváros. Their supporters turned on the team at Parkhead before booing them off at full time.
Celtic appeared to have taken an early lead when Auston Trusty finished, but the goal was ruled out after Liam Scales was judged to have been offside before heading the ball across to his fellow centre-back.
Rangers then went ahead in the 33rd minute. Viljami Sinisalo kept out Minsu Kim’s initial effort, but the goalkeeper could only push the ball into the path of Naderi, who followed up to score.
Celtic came close to an equaliser before the interval when Kieran Tierney’s powerful effort beat Ivor Pandur but struck the crossbar. Rangers also hit the woodwork, with Djedi Gassama denied by the frame of the goal.
The visitors created the clearer opportunities after the restart. Pandur made a significant save to keep out Colby Donovan’s header, while Sinisalo denied Penrice and watched a low effort from Kim drift narrowly wide.
Rangers thought they had doubled their advantage when Olwethu Makhanya volleyed into the net, but VAR ruled that he had handled the ball before finishing. Naderi also went close to adding a second when Carter-Vickers scrambled his delivery wide at the back post.
Celtic struggled to produce a sustained response, although James Forrest’s late effort was deflected over. Rangers held on, with Derek McInnes becoming the first manager since 1991 to win his opening two Old Firm matches.
Martin O’Neill had said Celtic’s confidence was not “rock bottom” after the defeats, but another loss to Rangers delivered a further blow in front of 60,000 home supporters.
