Philippe Clement enjoyed his first Old Firm win at the seventh attempt after his makeshift Rangers side steamrollered Celtic 3-0 at Ibrox.
Midfielder Ianis Hagi fired in from outside the box after seven minutes and the rattled Hoops struggled to keep at bay the relentless Light Blues, who were shorn of several key players.
Brendan Rodgers’ side, without the backing of away supporters, saw a Kyogo Furuhashi goal chalked off for offside early in the second half before Gers defender Robin Propper bundled in a second in the 65th minute.
Substitute Danilo knocked in a third in the 81st minute soon after climbing off the bench.
Clement will have bragging rights from the Glasgow derby for the first time since becoming Gers boss in October 2023 and stave off talk of the sack which has dominated his narrative in recent weeks.
The Light Blues are now 11 points behind the William Hill Premiership leaders and title hopes still remain unlikely, but the psychological boost of the victory was clear by the celebrations at the final whistle.
More upheaval around Rangers preparations seemed to be a portent of another difficult afternoon against their great rivals.
After dropping five points in their previous two games, Rangers went into the game lacking any momentum and were decimated defensively.
Goalkeeper and vice-captain Jack Butland had to pull out on New Year’s Day with a leg issue, joining skipper James Tavernier and fellow defenders Leon Balogun, John Souttar and Neraysho Kasanwirjo on the sidelines.
Liam Kelly, in his second spell at Ibrox but who only made his debut on December 21st, deputised for Butland, while left-back Ridvan Yilmaz started on the other side of the pitch as Tavernier’s replacement and Nico Raskin was named captain.
There was much less drama around Celtic, who emerged from 2024 with only two defeats in the year – Borussia Dortmund and Hearts – and Callum McGregor, left-back Greg Taylor and forward Daizen Maeda all returned to starting line-up.
But it was to be Rangers’ day.
The Parkhead side survived an early VAR check for a penalty before Hagi struck, taking a Raskin pass and drilling a shot from 20 yards low past Hoops goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel for his first goal in the league this season.
Ibrox reverberated with noise and in the 14th minute Vaclav Cerny’s deflected shot from distance clipped the bar before going over.
Rangers pushed forward relentlessly and in the 38th minute it took a great tackle by Hoops defender Cameron Carter-Vickers to prevent Mohamed Diomande getting in a shot on goal with only Schmeichel to beat.
But the first half ended with Kelly making a fine save from a Reo Hatate drive following a Celtic corner, with Raskin soon booked for grabbing already-booked Hoops captain Callum McGregor.
Furuhashi had the ball in the Rangers net in the 53rd minute after lobbing Kelly but the offside flag was up, with a VAR check confirming the decision.
On the hour-mark, Cerny raced clear and fired a shot past Schmeichel only to see the ball rebound off the far post and roll back across goal.
Rodgers brought on Alex Valle, Luke McCowan and Adam Idah for Furuhashi, Taylor and Paulo Bernardo just before the home side doubled their lead.
After Schmeichel saved a low drive from Cerny at his near post, the Czech Republic winger curled in a corner and when Raskin’s header was blocked on the line by Idah, Propper sent the loose ball high into the net.
Rangers went looking for a third which came when Danilo, on for Nedim Bajrami, scored from close range after a driving run from left-back Jefte ended with his shot being blocked by Carter-Vickers and falling for the Brazilian striker.
The one downside on the day for Rangers came late on when Celtic substitute Arne Engels went down near the corner flag after appearing to be struck by an object, before carrying on after treatment.
