Kyogo Furuhashi scored a brace to help Celtic produce one of the high-scoring football scores of the weekend in the Scottish Premiership. Early goals were disallowed for fouls on Kyogo Furuhashi and Alfredo Morelos, prompting the Ibrox club to write to the Scottish FA about the decision. Kyogo scored twice on either side of Tavernier’s amazing free kick, and Jota added a third for the leads before the Rangers skipper made it 3-2 with his historic goal. The result effectively seals the Premiership championship for the Hoops, as Rangers are now winless in their previous six visits to Celtic Park.
Aaron Mooy returned to the Celtic starting lineup, but Reo Hatate was left out once more. Rangers were without defender Connor Goldson in an Old Firm game for the first time since his arrival in 2018, with John Souttar making his season debut. Rangers had an early opportunity to put Celtic custodian Joe Hart under strain when Mooy threw away possession, but Ryan Kent failed to capitalize. Celtic’s Kyogo had the ball in the net in the sixth minute, but the Japanese attacker was clearly offside. Celtic defender Cameron Carter-Vickers brought down Morelos on the halfway line, earning the first booking of the game.
Daizen Maeda cut inside and set up Callum McGregor, whose low drive was saved on the second try by Allan McGregor. As Celtic increased the pressure, the veteran Rangers keeper was asked again to punch Jota’s curling shot to safety. Morelos then believed he had given the visitors the lead in the 20th minute when he punched home from Tavernier’s corner, but the goal was disallowed after a VAR review for the striker’s foul on Alistair Johnston. It was a controversial choice, with Ally McCoist calling it “embarrassing.”
Celtic took the lead in the 26th minute. As Celtic Park erupted, Matt O’Riley found Kyogo unmarked six yards out and he made no mistake. The Premiership leaders were back in command, and Jota came close to making it 2-0 when McGregor saved his 35-yard shot. With halftime approached, tempers boiled, and Celtic captain McGregor and Nicolas Raskin both received yellow cards after colliding in the center of the ground. Just before halftime, O’Riley was cautioned for taking out Malik Tillman in a dangerous area, and Tavernier took full advantage, curling in a magnificent free-kick off the crossbar to tie the game and bring his goal record for the club to 99.
At the opening of the second half, Hart made a strong save as Morelos sought to give the Ibrox side the lead, and the Colombian then got on the end of the resulting corner only to see his shot deflected wide. Celtic appeared to be on the verge of scoring when Kyogo latched onto a ball from O’Riley, but Borna Barisic made a spectacular goal-line clearance before the offside flag was raised. After Ben Davies’ error, the attacker scored his second goal just after the hour mark. He failed to clear Jota’s cross, allowing Kyogo to finish easily. After bringing down Greg Taylor’s cross in the box, the Gers defender recovered to prevent Kyogo from completing his hat-trick.
Another Rangers blunder allowed Jota to make it 3-1 in the 73rd minute. Souttar’s back pass was insufficient, and the Portuguese winger surged past McGregor and put the ball into an empty net as cries of “champions again” erupted from the spectators. Tavernier reached the 100-goal mark six minutes later, heading past Hart to tie the game at 3-2, but it wasn’t enough for the visitors.
“We could have made things more pleasant out there, but credit to this set of players for always finding a way to get the job done. It’s not like Kyogo and Jota has anything to prove. They contribute in every game, and they were great today,” Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou said. “We needed the energy, but the beautiful thing about us was that even when we weren’t smooth, we pressed and forced mistakes from them. We never go below a particular standard, whether we’re dominating the game or not. I don’t know how many times I’ve said that, but nothing is easy. If someone thinks what we do is simple, they should spend a day in my shoes.”
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