NO sooner had the snow settled on Celtic Park had it evaporated.
So too did Rangers’ unbeaten record under Philippe Clement.
Whether their title challenge stumbles in similar fashion to the way Cyriel Dessers did when clean through on goal remains to be seen.
But after 16 matches, the Belgian has suffered defeat as Gers boss for the first time as Celtic triumphed 2-1 on Old Firm day.
The win means that heading into the New Year, Brendan Rodgers’ men sit eight points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership (though Rangers have two games in hand).
Super strikes from Kyogo and Paulo Bernardo made the difference on the day.
James Tavernier whipped in a stunning free-kick in the 87th minute made it a nervy end for the Hoops faithful but it was too little, too late from the Light Blues skipper.
With both sides not able to field full-strength teams due to injuries, the likes of Stephen Welsh and Ridvan Yilmaz were handed rare starts.
It’s hard to remember a Glasgow derby where that hasn’t had a frantic start and this one was no different.
Moments of genuine quality were few and far between but both teams had openings in the opposing box.
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It wasn’t just the atmosphere and occasion the players could blame this time given that the Celtic Park pitch looked a bit worse for wear after all the preceding weather drama.
It wasn’t until 15 minutes had gone that a decent run down the right from Ross McCausland as he skipped past Greg Taylor into the box gave him the chance to cross but he couldn’t find a team mate and a combination of Dessers and Todd Cantwell couldn’t make amends.
Abdallah Sima then linked up with Cantwell on the edge of the box but fired high and wide.
At the other end, Celtic had openings through Kyogo from close range and Bernardo from further out, both giving Jack Butland something to think about.
But there was nothing the Gers goalie could do about the Portuguese midfielder’s 25th-minute opener.
Sima failed to properly clear Luis Palma’s corner and his weak header bounced up perfectly for Bernardo to volley home through a crowd of players and into the back of the net.
Dessers was presented with a glorious chance to level the tie on the half hour mark as he stole the ball and advanced into the area, bearing down on Joe Hart’s goal.
But he waited, and waited, and waited until all the recovering Alistair Johnston had to do was nudge
The away side were upping the ante now as McCausland failed to capitalise on a mishap in the Hoops defence from a crossfield pass immediately before Cantwell fired straight at Hart after James Tavernier recycled the loose ball and found the midfielder with a quick-thinking pass.
McCausland forced Hart into a better save five minutes before the break as his directness again caused problems in the Celtic box as Rodgers’ men started desperately counting down towards the half-time whistle.
Rangers also had a penalty shout waved away by Nick Walsh and the VAR team after the ball hit Johnston on the hand as he fended off Sima.
Welsh also trudged off injured just before the interval.
Clement likely headed into the dressing room with a clear team talk and a plan for how to get his team back into the game in the second half.
Within 90 seconds, Kyogo blew it out of the water.
The striker popped up on the edge of the box and unleashed a left-footed shot that flew into the top right-hand corner past Butland.
Gers looked shellshocked and Parkhead erupted.
It reached the hour mark before the away side had another chance as Dessers hit the side netting from a tight angle.
For the next ten minutes, absolutely nothing of note took place.
Then Leon Balogun took a terrible touch, Daizen Maeda sprinted onto the loose ball and the cumbersome defender hauled him down and Walsh couldn’t get his red card out quick enough.
A sloppy pass from Tavernier when Rangers were in good possession gave Celtic the chance to move the ball upfield and it was from there things went from bad to worse as Balogun messed up.
It was a clear sending off and at that point, it was clear there would only be one winner today.
At least, until Tavernier stepped up to silence Parkhead with a free-kick that caught Hart out and gave Gers some hope.
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But that’s all it was and despite eight minutes (and more) of injury time, the Hoops held on.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
