Celtic face Rangers in a massive derby encounter at Ibrox this afternoon, and if there is anyone who knows about winning derby matches it’s Brendan Rodgers.
Rodgers has only lost once in 13 matches against Rangers holding an aggregate score of 31-7 in those games. There were some matches that will live long in the memory amongst those 13 games, but here are 3 of the best encounters from Brendan Rodgers’ first tenure against Rangers.
Celtic 5-1 Rangers // Scottish Premiership // 10th September 2016
This game acted as a statement of intent for the domestic domination that was to follow Brendan Rodgers’ appointment as Celtic manager. After securing qualification for the Champions League, all eyes were on avenging Celtic’s penalty shoot-out loss to Rangers in the previous season’s Scottish Cup semi-final.
Moussa Dembele stepped up in the absence of the injured Leigh Griffiths and announced himself as the new main man at Parkhead with an electric performance. The Frenchman powered a header past Wes Foderingham to put Celtic ahead just after the half-hour mark. He added to that goal before Joe Garner brought Rangers back within touching distance heading into half-time.
Celtic would go on to put on a show in the second-half as Dembele turned provider, laying off Scott Sinclair for Celtic’s third. A Phillipe Senderos red card opened the floodgates and Dembele went on to complete his hat-trick before Stuart Armstrong comounded Rangers’ misery in added time.
Rangers 1-5 Celtic // Scottish Premiership // 29th April 2017
It is very rare that Celtic can beat Rangers 5-1 twice in one season but in the 2016/17 campaign they did just that. This was Celtic’s biggest ever win at Ibrox and they set the tempo early on as Scott Sinclair calmly converted from the spot after Myles Beerman fouled Patrick Roberts.
Leigh Griffiths fired in an extraordinary strike before Callum McGregor made it 3 just after the break.
Dedryck Boyata scored a bullet header from a Griffiths free-kick and Kenny Miller scored a consolation goal which received a muted reaction from Ibrox. Mikael Lustig’s brilliant dancing run capped off a sensational 5-1 win.
Celtic 5-0 Rangers // Scottish Premiership // 29th April 2018
Celtic won their 7th straight title with an emphatic victory over Rangers. A win would secure the title and what a way to do it.
Odsonne Edouard, still on loan from PSG at the time, scored a first-half brace to get the party started. He latched onto a Kieran Tierney cross for the first and powered home the second. James Forrest scored a brilliant solo goal to put Celtic 3 ahead heading into the break.
Early second-half, goals from Tom Rogic and Callum McGregor had Celtic fans thinking double figures were on the cards. The scoring came to an end there but the title party continued long into the night.
JAMES MCKENZIE
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