Cameron Carter-Vickers and Celtic remain undefeated in the Scottish Premiership as a dominant first half saw them easily defeat Rangers in the first Glasgow Derby of the season.
Celtic 4-0 Rangers
Glasgow derbies rarely disappoint and this one certainly did not as Celtic showed their dominance to come away with the shutout win over rivals Rangers at Celtic Park to extend their points lead in the standings.
Cameron Carter-Vickers started for the Hoops, completing 88 percent of his passes and winning a duel. On the other side, both James Sands and Malik Tillman started for Rangers, with the former being very busy as he completed 89 percent of his passes and won six duels. Tillman played 60 minutes in the game, completing 79 percent of his passes and winning six duels.
The hosts drew first blood just eight minutes into the contest when a quick throw-in caught Rangers by surprise and Liel Abada steered the ball across the goal line from Matthew O’Riley’s cross.
Jota doubled Celtic’s lead in the 32nd minute with a sublime chip that started from a through-ball by O’Riley that found the Portuguese international streaking towards the area.
The relentlessness of the champions did not let up as they scored a third in the 40th minute. Another throw-in saw Greg Taylor cross the ball into the area, and Abada went on to score his second of the day after O’Riley sent the ball into his path.
Rangers had no answers even when Celtic dropped their intensity in the second half.
And it showed as David Turnbull scored the hosts’ fourth goal in the 78th minute when Rangers’ goalkeeper Jonathan McLaughlin passed the ball directly to the Scottish midfielder and he made him pay for his mistake by putting the ball in the back of the net.
Celtic remains on top of the Scottish Premiership standings on 18 points while Rangers sit in second with 13 points.
Notes
Elsewhere in the Scottish Premiership, another American battle took place as both Joe Efford and Ian Harkes started for their respective teams as Motherwell and Dundee United shared the points following a 0-0 draw.
Dante Polvara watched from the bench while Christian Ramirez’s omission from the team continued as Aberdeen’s game with Ross County ended in a 1-1 draw.
In the Championship, Brian Schwake was between the posts for Greenock Morton as they fell to first-place Ayr United in a narrow 2-1 loss.
Down in League One, Emmanuel Johnson came off the bench to play the final 23 minutes and registered an assist for FC Edinburgh in their 6-0 win over Airdrieonians.
