The Old Firm on Sunday turned into a humbling affair for Rangers, with their bitter rivals Celtic taking an ultimately routine victory to kick start their season.
This could well have been the last Glasgow derby at Celtic Park without fans - though Rangers supporters will likely be grateful that they were not in attendance, as Celtic romped to a 3-0 victory in front of a buoyant home support.
First-half goals from Kyogo and Daizen Maeda had the Bhoys well on their way before a second-half stunner from Callum McGregor put the icing on the cake for the home side.
🗣️ "He is setting the standard already, Celtic are setting the standard already!"
Captain Callum McGregor puts Celtic 3-0 up against Rangers ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/BvbUZxe90d— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) September 1, 2024
Even before Daizen Maeda's opener, Kyogo had had a goal chalked off by VAR, showing the ascendancy Celtic enjoyed from very early on in the game.
It was a humbling day for Rangers, who struggled to get any meaningful hold on the game.
Despite this, former 'Gers player and manager Graeme Souness had a questionably positive read of the game this week.
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Graeme Souness gives questionable take on Celtic v Rangers
Graeme Souness on talksport today talking about the Old Firm derby yesterday.
To paraphrase, the stats say the match there wasn't a huge gap between the teams pic.twitter.com/HbJ0uYTRno— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) September 2, 2024
Appearing on talkSPORT in the aftermath of Rangers' Old Firm embarrassment, Graeme Souness tried to put a surprisingly positive spin on their performance at Celtic Park.
Can I read some stats to you from yesterday's game?
Forget the result, [pretend] you don't know the result. Celtic had 53% possession, Rangers had 47% at Parkhead. That's not bad for an away team.
Celtic had 14 shots, Rangers had 13 shots. Celtic had four on target, Rangers had four on target. Celtic had five off target, we had five off target.
Does that sound like a game that's been one-sided to you? There's no doubt about it, there's a gap. That gap, for me, looking at it, is that Celtic have better strikers. Those stats are not suggesting that they are turning up and mullering Rangers at Parkhead.
Though the statistics do read far more positively than one might have predicted, there is an easy explanation for those misleading figures.
Anyone who watched Sunday's derby would know that Rangers enjoyed far more possession once Celtic went into cruise control in the second half. Even with their rivals enjoying more of the ball, Celtic still created the better chances in the second half, and would even score during Rangers' best period of the game.
The team in blue enjoyed their best period of the game purely because Celtic took their foot off the gas from a dominant position - in a similar vein to another of Souness' former teams Liverpool against Manchester United later on Sunday afternoon.
There is no masking the gulf in quality between the two Glasgow sides on Sunday, as much as the stats may flatter the humbled visitors to Celtic Park.
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