It seems that after nine years of brutal dominance of Scottish football, Celtic will have to come to terms with the fact that there is a better team north of Hadrian's Wall this year. To make matters more painful for Celts, the better team is also their biggest rival - Rangers.
"Policemen" are the leaders in the table, they have 19 points advantage and three games more than Celtic, whom they defeated on Saturday by a minimum score in another Old Firm classic.
Callum McGregor's own goal 20 minutes before the end of the match decided at Ibrox, when he reacted clumsily after a corner and beat his goalkeeper with his head.
The victory against their arch-rivals came on the day that marked half a century since the Ibrox disaster in which 66 Rangers fans lost their lives. And then their team played against Celtic...
The fact that Steven Gerrard's team has yet to lose in the Premiership shows that Rangers are favorites for the title this year. After 22 rounds, he has 20 wins and two draws. She scored 57, conceded five hits. These are the numbers that best illustrate the kind of dominance we are talking about...
- We achieved another victory without conceding a goal. I am proud of the players. We were not good in the first half, but we improved our game in the rest. We became more aggressive. Our season starts now - Gerrard said after the match.
On Saturday, Rangers recorded their third consecutive victory over their big rival. In both games played this season against Celtic, Alan McGregor's net has been kept quiet. The experienced netminder excels, and on Saturday he had several great interventions.
- It's a pity that he is only two years younger than me (Gerard is 40), because I would like him to defend for my team for a long time. His defenses were phenomenal. He is a legend of the club - Gerrard spoke about McGregor in his chosen words.
Rangers suffered only one defeat in all competitions this season and that was in December when they lost to St. Mirren in the quarter-finals of the Scottish League Cup. In the Europa League, he won a place in the 1/16 finals, where he will play with Antwerp. The competition in the group ended with four wins and two draws.
The team's best player is James Tavernije, who scored 33 goals and 17 assists in 14 matches in all competitions. The numbers would not be strange if Tavernje was a striker. But he plays as a right back.
Celtic were champions for nine years. This season, the title seems to be going to Rangers, but Celtic manager Neil Lennon believes that the fight is not over yet.
- You can't say it's over, because there are still many matches to go. In the rest of the season, we have to be much better - Lenon said during the match.
The Celtic manager was angry with the referees after the game. He believes that Nir Biton did not deserve a red card in the 62nd minute of the derby with the score 0:0.
- The judge made a wrong decision. That changed the course of the game, because we dominated and had complete control. It was a foul, but it's not for a red card - said Lenon.
Celtic no longer have obligations in European competitions, because their performance in the Europa League ended in last place in the group.
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