Celtic travel to face Rangers at Ibrox tomorrow in the Scottish Premiership as they welcome 2025 with an exciting Glasgow Derby clash that will excite supporters.
First of all, 67 Hail Hail would like to wish everyone reading a happy New Year, and hopefully, the Bhoys can enjoy another fantastic campaign worth celebrating!
Without a doubt, you all know that Celtic will look to extend their Scottish Premiership lead at the summit to 17 points against Rangers on Thursday afternoon.
Brendan Rodgers has got the better of Philippe Clement twice this season. Once in the league back in September and the other in the Hoops’ Premier Sports Cup final victory last month.
Ahead of kick-off, taking a look back is the usual port of call to get supporters excited for what is set to be another exhilarating affair against Rangers at Ibrox.
To set out the criteria straight away, here is how Celtic got on in their last five Glasgow Derby matches that occurred after New Year’s Day. Any match that took place before the bells hasn’t been factored into consideration.
Rangers 2-2 Celtic – 2nd January 2023
Starting from the most recent affair to have taken place after the bells, Celtic’s 2-2 draw against Rangers at Ibrox under Ange Postecoglou will be remembered for several reasons, the most important being the implications it had on that year’s title race.
Daizen Maeda struck after just five minutes to capitalise on the visitors’ early dominance in front of hostile home support, but Ryan Kent and James Tavernier hit back for the hosts in the wake of the Bhoys inexplicably being denied a penalty after Conor Goldson handled in the box.
Not to worry, Kyogo Furuhashi silenced the one-sided crowd moments from time to preserve Celtic’s nine-point lead at the summit, effectively ending Rangers’ title challenge under Michael Beale.
Rangers 1-0 Celtic – 2nd January 2021
The less said about this one, the better. In what was a painful 2020/21 campaign for Celtic, Callum McGregor was credited with an own goal as Rangers ran out 1-0 victors despite the visitors’ best efforts.
Nir Bitton was sent off during the match, but supporters will be grateful that far better times have been experienced since the unfateful season in question that unfolded during the middle of a pandemic.
Rangers 0-2 Celtic – 2nd January 2011
Can you believe this is third on the list? To give some context, Celtic’s Scottish League Cup semi-final win over Rangers under Ronny Deila is disqualified due to the Hampden triumph taking place on February 1st 2015.
Nevertheless, Georgios Samaras fired a sensational double to grant an injury-hit Hoops side one of the 21st century’s most memorable victories at Ibrox under Neil Lennon.
The Greek forward was unplayable on his day and dragged his side back into the thick of the title race alongside a brilliant team effort to stifle the Rangers attack.
Unfortunately, Celtic would only pick up the Scottish Cup that season, but that was a sign of things to come that has led to more of a decade of domestic dominance.
Celtic 1-1 Rangers – 3rd January 2010
Another less memorable one on the list was Celtic’s 1-1 stalemate against Rangers at Parkhead in early January under Tony Mowbray.
Scott McDonald provided the main highlight on the day, nodding home on 79 minutes to give the hosts the lead before Lee McCulloch levelled.
Marc Antoine Fortune saw a goal controversially ruled out for a foul on Allan McGregor, which is probably the lasting memory supporters take from this game.
Celtic 2-1 Rangers – 9th January 2005 (Scottish Cup)
Surprisingly, a lot of Celtic’s clashes against Rangers in and around the festive period had occurred either before the bells or didn’t occur at all during that time, hence why the last inclusion on the list dates back a whole two decades.
Chris Sutton and John Hartson did the damage in the Scottish Cup third round to cancel out Fernando Ricksen’s equaliser just after the interval.
Celtic progressed to the fourth round and eventually went on to win the trophy, defeating Dundee United 1-0 in the final.
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