RANGERS v CELTIC

[RAB - P]

Rangers youngster Jamie Ness will make his competitive debut for the club, coming in for the injured Steven Nasimith. Scotland forward Naismith has failed to recover from a hamstring strain. Walter Smith's side are otherwise unchanged from the side which thumped Motherwell on Boxing Day.

Celtic won't include new signing Freddie Ljungberg. The former Arsenal winger has been floored by a bug and doesn't even make the bench. "He picked up a virus on Friday evening and was in a pretty bad way with sickness and dehydration; it's a blow."

TEAMS FROM IBROX:
RANGERS: McGregor, Foster, Bougherra, Weir, Papac, Davis, Ness, McCulloch, Whittaker, Miller, Weiss. Subs: Alexander, Fleck, Lafferty, Beattie, Webster, Kerkar, Hutton.

CELTIC: Forster, Wilson, Majstorovic, Rogne, Izaguirre, Forrest, Kayal, Ledley, Mulgrew, McCourt, Samaras. Subs: Zaluska, Juarez, Hooiveld, Stokes, McGinn, Crosas, Towell.

Referee: C Thompson

 

[Evastar]

Watch Rangers FC vs Celtic Live Stream Online

 

[RAB - P]

There will be a minute's silence before the Old Firm game today to mark the 40th anniversary of the Ibrox disaster. 66 people lost their lives and 145 were injured in a crush as fans left the stadium.

Sky Sports | Video | Football | Scottish Premier | Rangers remember

 

[J]

did anyone else notice the total disrepect of lennon thompson
and the other guy ,coming out the tunnel after the minute silence.**********

 

[RAB - P]

Rangers 0 - 2 celtic

 

[IANB]

No complaints better team won today. rangers were not at the races today.
Over to you Colin have your moment and fill your boots

 

[Evastar]

well done Celtic

 

[RAB - P]

Georgios Samaras' scored twice to give Celtic a deserved victory over Rangers that stretched the visitors' lead to four points in the league table.

Rangers were denied a fifth-minute lead when Emilio Izaguirre deflected a Lee McCulloch header off the crossbar.

But Celtic took control after the break and Samaras rounded goalkeeper Allan McGregor to score after 62 minutes.

The second came eight minutes later when Samaras was pulled down by Madjid Bougherra and scored with the penalty.

Reigning champions Rangers responded but could not prevent Celtic claiming their first victory on their Old Firm rivals' patch since December 2008.

And it was revenge for a side beaten 3-1 the last time they met their Glasgow neighbours, at Celtic Park in October.

An emotional day at Ibrox was ensured by an impeccably observed minute's silence to mark the 40th anniversary of the Ibrox disaster that led to the death of 66 people at the Old Firm derby on 2 January 1971.

Led out by famous captains John Greig and Billy McNeill, the respective sides had a chance to become modern legends.

But Celtic fans looking forward to the first sight of Freddie Ljungberg in the green and white hoops were left disappointed as the former Arsenal and Sweden winger had picked up a virus.

Manager Neil Lennon was also without suspended captain Scott Brown and the injured Olivier Kapo, along with striker Daryl Murphy, as he was forced to reshuffle his midfield.

Rangers' Walter Smith also was forced into a change after Steven Naismith failed a fitness test and 19-year-old Jamie Ness was given his first start at the heart of midfield.

It was Rangers' reshuffled pack that exerted early control and almost took the lead after five minutes following a corner won after Ness played a classy cross-field ball to Steven Whittaker.

Vladimir Weiss's cross was flicked on by Lee McCulloch and Celtic left-back Emilio Izaguirre managed to head the ball off the line and clear via the underside of the crossbar.

Both sides were playing a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Weiss and Paddy McCourt playing behind their respective strikers, and it was the latter who almost proved to have the greater influence despite the more evident trickery of the Slovakian.

The Northern Irishman's fine through ball into the penalty box found James Forrest, who had come into the side along with Beram Kayal, Charlie Mulgrew and Georgios Samaras, and forced a goal-saving tackle from McCulloch.

It was now a more even contest with lone strikers Kenny Miller and Samaras, whose inclusion meant that Anthony Stokes dropped to the bench, being starved of ammunition as the half-time whistle blew.

Samaras set up the best chance of the match within seconds after the break, his flicked header finding McCourt racing into the box, but the winger fired his drive wide of the far post under pressure from David Weir.

Just as Rangers looked to have settled after early Celtic pressure, the visitors took the lead after goalkeeper Allan McGregor sold himself after a long ball over the top of the defence from Joe Ledley found Samaras.

Samaras flicked the ball past McGregor and rolled the ball into the empty net and the Greek was soon celebrating a second.

The striker beat Ness for pace then was clipped by Bougherra's lazy leg as he turned inside the Algeria defender before stepping up to beat McGregor from the penalty spot.

Rangers, so subdued and reliant on aimless high balls until that point, suddenly responded and Sasa Papac sent a low drive just wide of the far post then Bougherra volleyed over from 16 yards.

However, Celtic held out comfortably and came close again from Ledley and Samaras to leave Rangers requiring wins in their two games in hand to overtake their rivals at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

 

[Colin]

Celtic fans showed their true class 1 mins silence was observed rangers get pumped and all you get it aye but lennon wasnt in the dug out... Get a grip... If you think he in anyway meant to show disrespect your a clown

 

[Paul-K]

1-0

2-0



Celtic goals from today..

 

[RAB - P]

a few more pics.

enjoy bhoys

 

[deedie]

did anyone else notice the total disrepect of lennon thompson
and the other guy ,coming out the tunnel after the minute silence.**********

i knew someone would mention this. i expect it to be the back page headline in the daily ranger tomorrow

 

[carbandit]

well done the the celts but more importantly they observed the silence for the folk who died 40 years ago full credit to both set of fans ..

 

[J]

Celtic fans showed their true class 1 mins silence was observed rangers get pumped and all you get it aye but lennon wasnt in the dug out... Get a grip... If you think he in anyway meant to show disrespect your a clown

rangers where pish today no excuss
@colin i must be a clown then,why else???????????????????????????????

 

[Colin]

well no one knows as yet... but i think anyone with a bit of sense would know there was nothing in it..every fan behaved themselves.. dont lower the tone looking for something that wasnt there..

anyway you got enough to worry about between hearts nipping in and grabbing 2nd and me planting a tri colour in your garden for you to wake up to tomorrow

 

[J]

well no one knows as yet... but i think anyone with a bit of sense would know there was nothing in it..every fan behaved themselves.. dont lower the tone looking for something that wasnt there..

anyway you got enough to worry about between hearts nipping in and grabbing 2nd and me planting a tri colour in your garden for you to wake up to tomorrow

i aint lowering the tone atall dorris

just read this the net and i agree 100%

Just read that he was late coming out and didn't want to appear half way through the silence. Personally I think that is completely wrong of Lennon and disrespectful. He was fully aware that a silence was taking place today and should have made sure that he was in the dugout, well in advance of the silence taking place.

If this match had been at Parkhead and Celtic were having a minute's silence for the Pope dying or something like that, you can be rest assured that Lennon would have been in the dugout, ready for the referee to blow his whistle.

For me, that is unacceptable. Just my opinion though.

 

[IANB]

well no one knows as yet... but i think anyone with a bit of sense would know there was nothing in it..every fan behaved themselves.. dont lower the tone looking for something that wasnt there..

anyway you got enough to worry about between hearts nipping in and grabbing 2nd and me planting a tri colour in your garden for you to wake up to tomorrow

Being late is absolutely no excuse for mr Lennon and co on this Colin. He has let down an otherwise impecible mark of respect from everyone else in the stadium.

I know it has no bearing on the result. we were p1sh, yous were less p1sh and samaras pulled a rabbit out the hat for the second time in his hoops career.

On a positive note the 2 young players 1 Celtic and Ness for Rangers can be very proud of their performance today.

 

[Colin]

Being late is absolutely no excuse for mr Lennon and co on this Colin. He has let down an otherwise impecible mark of respect from everyone else in the stadium.

I know it has no bearing on the result. we were p1sh, yous were less p1sh and samaras pulled a rabbit out the hat for the second time in his hoops career.

On a positive note the 2 young players 1 Celtic and Ness for Rangers can be very proud of their performance today.

mark this day in your diary folks ianb talks sense lol i thought the boy ness was the only gers player to get pass marks looks a good prospect... but so did john fleck ;-)

the boy forest at celtic is very special even though he is a hun lol

 

[Colin]

i aint lowering the tone atall dorris

just read this the net and i agree 100%

Just read that he was late coming out and didn't want to appear half way through the silence. Personally I think that is completely wrong of Lennon and disrespectful. He was fully aware that a silence was taking place today and should have made sure that he was in the dugout, well in advance of the silence taking place.

If this match had been at Parkhead and Celtic were having a minute's silence for the Pope dying or something like that, you can be rest assured that Lennon would have been in the dugout, ready for the referee to blow his whistle.

For me, that is unacceptable. Just my opinion though.

to be honest i think he done the right thing then not to come out late, is it really worth making a big deal over? ffs you lot didnt have a chance to slag the fans as they all observed it and i think lennon is more sensible than the green brigade etc.. any normal person would have kept quiet for that today..

 

[IANB]

mark this day in your diary folks ianb talks sense lol i thought the boy ness was the only gers player to get pass marks looks a good prospect... but so did john fleck ;-)

the boy forest at celtic is very special even though he is a hun lol

Yes thats him Forrest he looks good as did ness.
Some of the higher paid players should hang their heads in shame as these 2 lads showed what applying yourself is all about.
To be fair Celtic did show a lot more passion than Rangers could today but with the exeption of The 2 youngsters and samaras it was all very ordinary.
Best team won, Ref had a good game got the descisions correct. He also used a bit of sense not flashing cards all over the place.