BBC SPORT
Crisis? What crisis? A 2-1 win over their city rivals, and closest title challengers, has gone a long way to dispelling suggestions of a winter of discontent at Celtic Park.
For Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, suggestions of “constant crisis mode” in the east end of Glasgow were exaggerated in the lead up to the latest Old Firm derby.
And little wonder given his side’s 2-1 victory moves them eight points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, albeit having played two games more.
Perhaps that, in part, is why a first defeat in 17 games as a Rangers manager did nothing to alter “proud” Philippe Clement’s belief that his side are continuing to improve and can still mount a title challenge.
However, he pointed to two moments either side of half time that have shifted the momentum again in the Scottish title race.
‘Very satisfying, fantastic win’
Going into Saturday’s game, much had been made of the way Rangers had narrowed the gap at the top.
Winning the Viaplay Cup final and reaching the last 16 of the Europa League had coincided with a couple of uncharacteristic domestic stumbles across Glasgow, heightened by an exit from the Champions League and a dispute with a section of their own supporters.
But with the Green Brigade now back in the fold as 60,000 at Celtic Park witnessed their second Old Firm win of the season, Rodgers was able to proclaim: “There’s a lot of noise around us. I sensed that everyone feels we are in constant crisis mode here at Celtic, but I don’t feel that.”
Instead, the Northern Irishman could point to a “very satisfying” and “fantastic win”, achieved while being able to give cameos to two returning key players from injury – Liel Abada and Reo Hatate.
“A brilliant day for the supporters and they really pushed the team on,” Rodgers said. “At the end of December, these can be challenging games – a lot of fatigue, plus we had played in midweek and Rangers had the free week to prepare.
“I thought it was deserved, we scored two outstanding goals and had other opportunities and maybe didn’t pick the right pass. The only downside was when they went down to 10. We didn’t control the game enough and we invited pressure.”
The opener came from a fine Paulo Bernardo volley, the on-loan Benfica midfielder’s second in two games, and that was followed by what his manager described as “a wonderful strike” from Kyogo…
