This year’s Old Firm derbies are complete, with Celtic and the Rangers playing each other a total of five times. Celtic were the dominant side in 2022, winning three and drawing one against their long-time rivals the Rangers. With the Rangers managing only one solitary win over Celtic this year, we take a look at some of the more famous derbies between the two teams across history.
Celtic Domination in 2000
Throughout the 2022 season, Celtic have put the Rangers to the sword, winning their most recent match 4-0 in September.
Such domination hails back to one of the famous Old Firm derbies in 2000, where Celtic came away 6-2 victors over the Rangers. In what was Martin O’Neil’s first derby as Celtic manager, the man got a warm welcome by home fans, as his side systematically destroyed their arch-rivals. Within the first 11 minutes of this match, Celtic scored three goals through Paul Lambert, Stiliyan Petrov and Chris Sutton.
The Rangers managed to claw two goals back to make the game briefly competitive, but a double to Henrik Larsson and a second for Sutton sealed the deal, with Celtic winning 6-2. It was a critical win for Celtic who went on to win the league that season.
Ranger Revenge Months Later
Few storylines are more mouth-watering than a classic revenge tale.
Just a short three months later, the Rangers and Celtic faced off again in 2000, in what would go down in history as one of the most remarkable derby matches of all time. Having been thoroughly dispatched 6-2 earlier in the season by Celtic, a different Rangers side turned up for this clash and stunned their rivals.
A great way for avid footballs to make punts on derbies such as these and learn about betting odds is on https://betting.com/gb/. However, even the most schooled football fan would not have predicted what happened in this match between the Rangers and Celtics. After a slow start that saw the Rangers ahead 1-0 at halftime, and Celtic equalise soon after the break, the second half flood gates opened around the one-hour mark.
Tore Andre Flo, Ronald De Boer, Lorenzo Amoruso and Michael Mols hit the back of the net in rapid succession, leaving the final score line 5-1, capping off a remarkable turnaround for the Rangers.
Hampden in the Sun Back in 1957
Perhaps one of the finest moments of Celtic tradition occurred well over half a century ago when the side scored their biggest-ever win over the Rangers in 1957.
So famous was this win for Celtic, that to this day, there are songs and books written about the match known as ‘Hampden in the Sun.’ Celtic entered the match as significant underdogs, being played in the league final, but arrived ready for the derby clash.
Two quick goals around the 20-minute mark put Celtic up at the half time, but a Billy McPhail hattrick in the second half saw Celtic run away with the match. Sealing the deal with a 90th-minute penalty, Celtic came away winners 7-1, in what was their largest scoring margin over their derby rivals, and a historic title win as well.
