Rangers Vs Celtic: rangers vs celtic ends 2-2 as Hearts & Motherwell benefit
rangers vs celtic finished 2-2 at Ibrox in a match that left Celtic sprightly and Rangers stunned. The stalemate was damaging to both old rivals but proved an unexpectedly beneficial outcome for Hearts and Motherwell.
Rangers Vs Celtic at Ibrox
The game was a rollercoaster of momentum and body language. At the final whistle Celtic looked sprightly while Rangers appeared stunned. Aggro in the aftermath spilled onto the pitch – pushing and shoving and pointing – but the scoreline remained a stalemate. From Edinburgh, the distant sound of laughter hinted at the wider implications: there wasn't a winner at Ibrox in this 2-2 draw, but there were winners elsewhere.
Who gained from the draw
Derek McInnes at the top and Jens Berthel Askou in fourth might have offered up a prayer before kick-off; a draw was what they would have wished for and their wish was granted. Hearts and Motherwell finish the weekend in a stronger position. For Rangers and Celtic the result did damage: they tore at each other's throats and did a lot of damage to themselves as well as to perceptions of their strength.
Chermiti’s brace and comeback
Rangers led 2-0 at the break after a brace from striker Youssef Chermiti. The opening goal began with a dispossessing of Julian Araujo in the corner by Tuur Rommens and Youssef Chermiti, then across the other side Andreas Skov Olsen floated in a cross and Chermiti hurled himself into the air. The connection flew past Viljami Sinisalo and the strike was described as a spectacular opener. The finish prompted comparisons with Scott McTominay's spectacular effort against Denmark; McTominay's boot was measured at 2. 53m off the ground when he scored at Hampden, a new world record, and if Chermiti's boot wasn't higher there could be very little between them.
Celtic fightback after half-time
Rangers had dominated the first half, so good that you could scarcely see a way back for Celtic. In a break in play around the half-hour mark Mikey Moore, exciting, dangerous and 18 years old, juggled the ball around the halfway line; he looked carefree and innocent, the calmest person in the cauldron. When Julian Araujo, Celtic's frustrated full-back, ran over and wrestled the ball off him it was almost the only one-on-one battle Celtic had won in that period. Yet after the interval their levels rose significantly. Celtic took full advantage in the second period, with Kieran Tierney and Reo Hatate scoring to level the match at 2-2.
Rohl’s defence and player update
Danny Rohl hit back at Rangers' detractors and insisted his players have the bottle for the Premiership title race despite letting a two-goal lead slip at Ibrox. On mentality he said: "I don’t accept this about mentality. Everyone who has played football knows there is a story in every game. There is momentum for one team and for the second team it’s important that we continue our performance for the whole 90 minutes. We need to do this. We have done this already and we have shown character to comeback before. "
Rohl set out the maths and the resolve: "So the gap is now six points, but I have said this time and time again. This will go to the final matchday and we will fight and fight for every point until the end. We will try and improve against them next week and we will go again, I think this is key. There are nine games to go, it’s massive. There are a lot of things still to play for and I truly believe in my players. "
Asked why his team lost their grip after such a dominant first half Rohl explained: "I think there were some moments where we lost the ball in areas that we shouldn’t. We gave them some transition moments and allowed the game to become stretched when we wanted to keep it compact. We tried to stabilise the midfield with a third midfielder and then football is about energy. But you felt that we couldn’t really get this momentum back and we had an opponent who tried everything. I’d need to look back but and count how many chances they had because apart from the penalty I can’t really think of how many shots they had. But in the two situations I don’t think we always had the right positioning in our box. For example at the pen, it was a five against three situation. If we have the right body position then I think we can defend this situation. But this is football, we have to learn, we have to take it. We will speak about it and then next week we will try to make it better next time round. "
Rohl was also probed on marquee January signing Andreas Skov Olsen: "He is on the way to being better and better. He has had some good assists. He becomes better and better. It is all about us. There is no player who can be too much in the comfort zone. We have to increase and be better and better and better in every game. I have said this many times. I see direction, but today we couldn’t keep our performance in the first half going in the second 45 minutes and that is the reason we are disappointed. We have to be disappointed about us and then we move forward. "
Match summary and context
Rangers had wiped the floor with their city rivals in the first half, out-scoring, out-playing, out-fighting them on the floor and in the air and out-believing them. Ibrox was in thrall to them; they showed aggression, urgency, speed, accuracy, an appetite for work and menace. Yet Celtic’s second-half recovery left Rangers needing smelling salts. The result leaves Rangers in second place in the league standings, now six points behind Hearts and potentially at risk of falling behind Celtic if Celtic, two points adrift of Rangers, win their game in hand over Aberdeen on Wednesday.
There was a sense of both brilliance and weakness from minute one to the last act; a deeply compelling, tumultuous afternoon in which the psychology of the contest was endlessly fascinating. Our exclusive 'SIGN FOR CELTIC' competitions with the chance to win some fantastic prizes was also promoted around the coverage.
Hearts and Motherwell were the weekend winners after a damaging Old Firm stalemate that left both rivals with questions to answer.
