Celtic-Rangers debrief: modern-day derby greatness for duo, Clement grafts Ibrox backbone, VAR’s ill-communication

Furuhashi continues to hurt Rangers as Rodgers lands first blow on Clement

Amid the feverish talk of potential title impact, all that was settled by a throbbing, unpredictable derby dust-up were collective Celtic nerves. And even then that was after a fashion, despite them ultimately carrying the day.

Of course, there was bankability in the home side’s endeavours. The 2-1 win for the home side ensured that Brendan Rodgers and Kyogo Furuhashi have carved out special status in the fixture’s modern-day history. The Northern Irishman by dint of boasting the only 80 per cent win rate for any manager to have helmed a team in at least ten such confrontations across the era – his two-out-of-two record in the meetings of his second spell this season taking him on to 12 wins from a 15 span in which he has suffered only one defeat. Then there is Celtic’s Japanese jack-in-the-box striker. In a calendar year, no player from either side has bagged seven goals in the derby domain that defines all for the Glasgow leviathans. But that is what Furuhashi did by conjuring up a glorious finish – even Rangers manager Philippe Clement was moved to describe it as “world class” – to put the home side 2-0 up three minutes after the interval.

When Leon Balogun earned himself a straight red in proving all octopus arms as he wrestled Daizen Maeda to the ground with the attacker boring in on goal after 72nd minutes, a Rangers crumble was anticipated. But instead, the ten men demonstrated the backbone that inside only three months, and missing half his first-choice picks as he was again in Glasgow’s east end, Clement appears to have grafted on to squad. Even as they are largely the same players that so often in the key confrontations between the big two across recent seasons seemed to become invertebrates.

Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi curls the ball past Jack Butland in the Rangers goal.

The closing 20 minutes then were transformed from the expected breeze for Rodgers’ team to a fingernail-biting closing passage of almost 12 minutes – ten of them stoppage time – following the sumptuous free-kick curled into the top corner by James Tavernier from 22 yards to the left of goal. No wonder that Clement had little but admiration for his mix-and-match, understrength and, eventually, under full-complement side. This final stretch of a ferocious, flat-out thrash of an encounter embroidered by three goals of the absolute highest standard betrayed the mental scarring afflicting Celtic as a result of their capacity for dropping points in this up-and-down campaign, no fewer than seven on their own patch ahead of hosting Rangers.

The Belgian had his quibbles with “circumstances” that contributed to his team’s downfall and seemed to have solid grounds for grumbling with a clear handball by the unconvincing Alistair Johnston, who inadvertently fisted it out of play when challenging Abdallah Sima shortly before the interval. However, his case was entirely undermined through it later emerging that a VAR check had discovered the Senegalese attacker had strayed offside in the lead-up. The communication breakdowns that deprived the combatants, those in the stadium and those watching at home of such crucial information – at least until Sky much later cleared up the matter – suggests there remains protocol changes for the SFA refereeing department to ensure the necessary transparency in decision-making.

On one front, the decision-making witnessed in this latest iteration of Glasgow’s intercity footballing warfare was pristine, though. Celtic, as was no great surprise, produced the more composed and crafted play. Everything to do with their midfield fulcrum and team leader Callum McGregor, whose dynamism and deftness in a domain that so often disavows such elements put him on another plane from all around him.

His seizing of possession and tempo-changing immaculate use of the ball was instrumental in Celtic taking charge early on. Across the opening quarter of the encounter McGregor helped engineer a glaring headed opening for Bernardo that he squandered, before the Benfica loanee sent a fizzing effort into the side netting. It transpired that this was his sighter when, shortly afterwards and with the clock showing 26 minutes, he had net net bulging in dazzling fashion. A Luis Palma corner from the right allowed to bounce in the box by a dozy Rangers backline before a Sima header allowed Bernardo to produce a hitch-kick style volley that seemed to travel at lightspeed past the helpless Jack Butland.

Furuhashi has now scored seven goals against Rangers in 2023.

The back-and-forth to follow either side of the break demonstrated, in a microcosm, what proved the difference between the sides. A slack pass from Johnston allowed Cyriel Dessers in on Joe Hart offered a gift-wrapped opening for Rangers to restore parity after 38 minutes. Inexplicably, though, the Nigerian international sauntered his way into the Celtic box, seeming to have no clue when to fashion a scoring opportunity. That time was before Johnston was able to catch him up and nick the ball from his toes … Dessers and Maeda appearing in desperate competition for the worst first touch across the contest.

Even if Furuhashi hasn’t always shown the crispness in those departments this season that typified his first two seasons in the country, touch and technique, and the ability to embrace his moment with sheer breathtaking exquisiteness, will always be his allies. As was shown, with bells on, when in the 48th minute, he stepped to the side of Connor Goldson on the edge of the area, and wrapped his foot round the ball as if it were a hand slipping into a velveteen glove, to arc it into the only tiny space in the postage-stamp corner of Butland’s net that he couldn’t deliver a save.

The match-winning moment, not even Henrik Larsson fashioned so many of these against Rangers in such rapid order as has Furuhashi in 2023 … to spare his side defeat, win them a cup final, see them over the line in a title decider, and now ensure they have maintained daylight over their league challengers in two clashes this season. There seems nothing the 28-year-old can’t do when sharing a pitch with the Ibrox club.