Michael Stewart delivers verdict on Celtic's derby thumping; makes withering comparison

By Dave Flanigan

September 4, 2022

Former Hearts midfielder Michael Stewart has delivered a withering comparison between Celtic’s derby hero Liel Abada and Rangers star Ryan Kent following the champions’ derby rout yesterday.

The Israeli winger scored Celtic’s first and third goals in yesterday’s 4-0 thumping of their fierce rivals, and Stewart was keen to highlight the difference in cutting edge between the two sides’ forward players.

Speaking on BBC Sportsound during the game (from 13:15) He said: “Talking about the difference between the teams, Ryan Kent has got a lot more technical ability than Liel Abada. You look at Kent and think he is a wonderful player, but his end product is nothing compared to Abada’s.

“Abada has scored two today, he is a constant threat and knows how to hurt the opposition. When you watch Ryan Kent, he does it in flashes, but he looks like a player to me that doesn’t know where to hurt the opposition and how he can affect the game.

“It happens sometimes but not by design – it just happens for him. He is a player who doesn’t have end product.”

After the match, Stewart also marvelled about the job done by Ange Postecoglou, and believes that their rivals are now unable to compete with the Aussie’s Celtic side.

Speaking on the BBC Sportsound Scottish Football Podcast (From 08:55-, Stewart said: “You’ve got to remember where Ange Postecoglou started from, it was a real bad place, so it shows you the character of him himself and now it’s not to say that it’s easier, but they’ve built up such a head of steam that they will be extremely difficult to stop.

“Rangers have got quality players, there’s no doubt about it, but they don’t have that same energy and intensity that Celtic have, and whenever they go head to head like that, that’s going to be the big challenge for them, can they go toe-to-toe with Celtic?

“On the evidence of today, no they can’t, so they need to find another way to get some kind of positive results against them and there’s not an obvious solution to it at the moment.”

Celtic’s derby annihilation of Rangers put the Hoops five points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table with a mammoth 17 goal difference on their fierce rivals after only six games.

Mirroring the 3-0 win in the same fixture in February, Celtic followed up an early opener with two quick-fire goals on half time, adding to Rangers’ misery late-on when David Turnbull capitalised on Jon McLaughlin’s howler.

Next up for Celtic is a mouth-watering tie against Real Madrid in Paradise on Tuesday night, as the Hoops make their return to the Champions League.

In other news: “Just chill”; Celtic derby hero Jota laughs off BBC Scotland’s title race question