‘How fitting’
Celtic may have won the Scottish Premiership title for 2022/23 but Rangers were quick to ensure there would be no crowing from their Glasgow rivals at Ibrox.
Rangers secured a 3-0 win as they punished a number of lapses in the Celtic defence. Todd Cantwell got the first goal – scoring on the rebound after a Joe Hart save – and the hosts were good value for their win.
Ahead of the game, there had been questions about whether the Rangers players would form a guard of honour to welcome Celtic, as champions, on to the pitch. However, Rangers boss Michael Beale nixed that idea when he told SkySports: “No, it doesn’t become tricky here.
“Because in the past it has been turned down and hasn’t been done. So I don’t think they would want us to. And in a stadium of our fans I don’t think it would be the right thing to do either.
“We have a lot of respect for them in terms of winning the league. They have been clearly the best team – the league table doesn’t lie. But that has been dealt with in the past so that has been taken out of my hands, thankfully.”
Rangers PA belts out Tina Turner
Ahead of both the first and second halves, Rangers opted to let Celtic take to the field first, and make their visitors wait.
With no guard of honour for the champions, it meant Celtic took to the field when the Ibrox public address system was belting out ‘Simply the Best’ by Tina Turner.
Celtic supporters took the song and ran with it:
Bizzare guard of honour from Rangers fans as they sing simply the best and congratulate Celtic as champions yet again.
Big thanks to the Rangers fans for that unexpected celebration.
— Vaughan Williams 🏴🇮🇪🇵🇸 (@Vaughan_Wms) May 13, 2023
I know there is no guard of honour at Ibrox for the champions, but fair play to rangers for playing “Simply the best” for Celtic at start of game 👏👏👏
— Mark Gucci Mcghee💙 (@markguccimcghee) May 13, 2023
How nice of Rangers to sing “simply the best” before their game against Celtic.
Who needs are guard of honour, when your rival fans sing that to you. Very nice. #OldFirm #CelticFC
— Paul Gillespie (@PSGillespie21) May 13, 2023
As for the guard of honour that never was, Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou said, “It’s no big deal for me.
“These kind of things are symbolic rather than anything real. I think there is respect is shown in different ways.”
Defeat was Celtic was their first in 29 games, since losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League, last November. Victory for Rangers put them 10 points back from Celtic, with only three league games remaining.
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