Rangers break golden Old Firm rules as a king is coronated at Celtic Park

Do not lose sight of the first goal, and avoid unnecessary challenges.Rangers breached the golden rules and faced the consequences. The title flag will remain at Parkhead.

Celtic may confirm that Brendan Rodgers has done what he said he would do back in June when they meet Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Wednesday night. However, Rangers may slip up against Dundee at Ibrox the day before. This seemed like a coronation in any case. Rodgers’ smile gleamed like the Northern Lights the previous night. He is the title king.

He accompanied his players on a lap of honour. It’s something they do on a regular basis here, but this circuit around the pitch was filled with extra emotion. Goalkeeper Joe Hart held both arms in the air. It seemed like a long time since Santa was booed.

Celtic’s victory was aided by the dismissal of midfielder John Lundstram soon before halftime, following his own goal. This was a devastating era for the Liverpudlian.

The Ibrox side had fallen behind in ten of their previous 11 games with Celtic, and they did it again here when Matt O’Riley scored after 35 minutes. Rangers appeared to have no chance of a comeback after Lundstram’s own goal three minutes later.

The unlucky deflection past his own custodian was not Lundstram’s most significant contribution to the proceedings – impact being the key word. On the stroke of halftime, Lundstram collided with Alistair Johnston, making an absolutely needless challenge, and was sent off. There was a brief halt to execution since he was first just booked by referee Willie Collum. However, it remained crimson throughout the day. VAR intervened. He left.

Rangers were particularly disappointed because they had only recently regained control of the game thanks to Cyriel Dessers’ header on 39 minutes. Who knows what might have happened if the score had been 2-1 with another half to play? Still, it’s being extremely fair to the Rangers to believe they might have found a way back into the game and the championship battle while having eleven men. Although they recovered effectively in the first half as Celtic threatened to overwhelm them, they still lacked the ability to really force the issue.

Of course, it’s an Old Firm game. Anything may still have occurred. O’Riley’s penalty after being clipped by Mohamed Diomande was saved by Butland, who was excellent throughout. Celtic Park became edgier at the finish as the score stayed 2-1 and Rangers threw caution to the wind. A frantic Butland made his second trip into the opposition box in recent weeks, having also come up for a corner against Ross County last month, as Rangers’ title ambitions began to fade. That process was completed here. It is all over.