Scott McDonald says rivals "failed" at Celtic Park as he sets derby narrative straight

By David Walton

May 4, 2022

Scott McDonald has stated that Rangers “failed” at Celtic Park as he set the Glasgow derby narrative straight after Sunday.

Rangers had to beat the Hoops to have any plausible hope of retaining the title. However, Celtic managed to grab a 1-1 draw that keeps their 6-point advantage intact. With only 3 games remaining, the title race is all but over and it would take a cataclysmic disaster for us not to see it through now.

Yet the reaction to Sunday has been more than baffling. Celtic have received far too much negativity from pundits who have been too quick to talk up our weaknesses. It’s almost made out as if the league championship is of secondary importance.

But McDonald put it right as he spoke exclusively to 67HailHail and stated our foes had to win and simply couldn’t get the job done.

“They had to come and beat us and they didn’t. They failed to do that. So job done in a sense. Yes, we would’ve liked to have killed it off, but it’s all in Celtic’s hands. Who would you rather be right now?

“I think for Celtic now it’s within touching distance. If they win on Saturday then it’s job done because the goal difference is just far too superior. It would take a hell of an upset in the 2 games to come after that to give it away. It’s just not going to happen.

I don’t think the Celtic players would’ve thought anything like that [whether they would’ve been annoyed after Rangers]. It’s just stepping closer to it and I think Ange would’ve been so positive after the game on that. You don’t want any negativity coming into your changing room or your club just because you drew a game. You’re still 6 points clear and it’s 3 games to go.”

Scott McDonald gets it bang on – there are no moral victories for Rangers

All that matters is the title race. We play 38 games in the Premiership every season to try and win the competition. That’s always the end goal, and it should be the primary focus of all pundits after a game like Sunday.

Yet, for some reason, too many are looking ahead to next season as if this one is inconsequential. Just because we’ve had an advantage in the league for some time doesn’t mean that we just look ahead to next year. Celtic deserve the due credit and praise for seeing off Sunday’s challenge and ensuring their unbeaten run in the league continued.

The idea that there are a lot of positives for Rangers to take is embarrassing. They’re literally about to lose the league title to a club that was supposed to have no chance. Giovanni van Bronckhorst has overseen a dramatic points shift since his arrival that reflects woefully on him.

Spare us this idea that they can be buzzing about a 1-1 draw at Parkhead because it bodes well for next season. It’s that kind of talk that degrades the league championship. The only narrative to come out of Sunday is that our rivals failed and we succeeded.

No, we didn’t get the 3 points. That can happen. But the primary goal was not to lose the game. That didn’t happen either. We can’t allow a failure to win the final derby of the season put some sort of downer on us potentially winning the championship. We don’t deserve that.

Next year will present new challenges, but for now let’s not overlook the potential achievement if Celtic wrap up the title.

In other news, Hearts boss hilariously went into meltdown mode after last Celtic Park trip