Celtic Player Ratings vs Rangers: Hoops Flop in Premier Sports Cup on a Day of Calamitous Derby Performances

Martin O’Neill has known plenty of bruising afternoons in Old Firm football over the years, but few will have stung quite like this one. Celtic’s perfect start to the 2026-27 season came crashing down in the most emphatic fashion at Ibrox on Sunday, as a Rangers side under Derek McInnes tore into their bitter rivals with a ruthless 3-0 Premier Sports Cup quarter-final victory that ended the Hoops’ interest in the competition and handed McInnes his first win over Celtic since taking charge in Govan.

A Perfect Record, Shattered in One Afternoon

Going into the tie, Celtic could point to a flawless domestic record — six wins from six in the Scottish Premiership, five points clear at the summit, and a reputation in cup competitions against Rangers that bordered on total dominance. O’Neill’s side had won each of their last six cup meetings with their fiercest rivals and remained unbeaten in every League Cup clash between the two since the 2011 final, a run stretching back well over a decade. Given that history, and given the gulf that appeared to exist between an unbeaten league leader and a Rangers side still finding its feet under a new manager, this looked on paper like exactly the kind of fixture Celtic were built to win.

Instead, it produced the opposite result, and by some distance. Dan Neil, the summer signing from Sunderland now wearing the captain’s armband at Ibrox, scored a stunning first-half opener before adding a second-half strike of similar quality to bookend the rout, while new record signing Kevin Kelsy grabbed his first goal in Light Blue in between. It was as complete a derby performance as Rangers have produced in years, and it leaves O’Neill facing serious and uncomfortable questions heading into the reverse league fixture at Celtic Park just a week later.

How the Game Unfolded

Celtic were unsettled from almost the first whistle. With no away fans inside Ibrox — the result of a bitter ticketing dispute between the clubs that will be covered in more detail below — there was little of the usual noise from the away end to lift O’Neill’s players when things started to go wrong, and things began going wrong almost immediately. Rangers pressed high from kick-off and created several early sighters. Kevin Kelsy might have opened the scoring inside the first five minutes when goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, making just his second start since arriving on loan from Wolves, fumbled a routine pass straight into the striker’s path, only for Kelsy to scuff his follow-up wide of the target. Johnstone was fortunate again minutes later, flapping at a routine cross that fell invitingly for Kim Min-su inside the box, with only a last-ditch clearance off the line from Liam Scales preventing an even earlier setback.

Celtic did have their own moments in an increasingly ragged opening period. A neat pass from Colby Donovan found Kasper Hogh in space on the edge of the Rangers box in the twelfth minute, but the big-money Danish striker’s afternoon summed itself up in a single moment when he slipped attempting to control the ball, allowing Camilo Duran to pounce on the loose ball and carve out a shooting opportunity of his own, which drifted just wide of the target. It was as close as Celtic would come to troubling Sam Johnstone’s opposite number for the remainder of the half.

The breakthrough, when it arrived in the 22nd minute, was created almost entirely by Celtic’s own carelessness. Callum McGregor failed to close down space on the edge of his own box, allowing Neil time to shift the ball onto his favoured foot and guide a precise finish low into the corner. It was a goal born of individual quality from Neil, but also of the kind of defensive hesitancy that would characterise Celtic’s afternoon almost from start to finish. Ibrox erupted, and from that moment, O’Neill’s side never looked like recovering their composure.

The second half brought no respite. Rangers doubled their advantage in the 59th minute when a deflected cross fell kindly to Kevin Kelsy, unmarked inside the box, and the Venezuelan striker made no mistake with a powerful finish into the bottom corner — his first goal for the club since his big-money summer move, and the perfect moment to open his account in Light Blue. With Celtic chasing the game and increasingly disjointed, Rangers finished the contest as a spectacle in the 75th minute when Neil struck for a second time, curling a fine effort into the top corner to complete his brace and send Ibrox into raptures once more. There was no way back for Celtic from there, and the closing exchanges played out with the tie, and Celtic’s involvement in this season’s Premier Sports Cup, already settled.

A Toxic Backdrop: The Ticketing Row That Emptied One End of Ibrox

No account of Sunday’s fixture would be complete without addressing the extraordinary circumstances surrounding it off the pitch. For the second time this season, Celtic supporters were entirely absent from Ibrox, the product of a bitter and prolonged dispute over away ticket allocations that has rumbled on for weeks. The saga stemmed from the disorder that marred the two clubs’ Scottish Cup quarter-final meeting back in March, when Celtic supporters spilled onto the pitch to celebrate a penalty shoot-out victory, prompting Rangers fans to charge onto the playing surface in response and sparking scenes of violent disorder that led to dozens of arrests.

The fallout from that night has shaped almost every subsequent Old Firm fixture. An independent review chaired by Mark Blackbourne into the events of 8 March resulted in both clubs being sanctioned, including an order that each side play their next home Scottish Cup fixture behind closed doors, along with a requirement to pay £100,000 in compensation to their opponents for lost shared gate receipts. Against that backdrop, Rangers moved in late August to drastically cut Celtic’s allocation for Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final to just 300 tickets, a stark reduction from the 8,000 Celtic fans who had packed into the away end for the ill-fated March tie, and considerably smaller even than the low-thousands allocations that had become standard for recent league encounters between the clubs.

In their statement explaining the decision, Rangers pointed to more than just the March disorder, noting: “Since 8 March, there have also been further pitch invasions involving Celtic supporters,” and citing the findings of the Blackbourne Report on how quickly an initial pitch incursion can escalate into wider trouble if not managed properly. The club argued that a reduced allocation would allow for “greater individual ticket-holder accountability, stronger ingress controls, enhanced segregation and additional safeguards appropriate to the risk identified for this fixture,” while also noting frustration that concerns they had previously raised about away allocations had not, in their view, been given sufficient weight by the authorities in the past.

Celtic, for their part, refused to accept the reduced allocation, and rather than take up the offer of 300 tickets, the matter was referred to the SPFL for a determination. Following extensive discussions involving both clubs, the league, and Police Scotland, an agreement was struck that removed the issue entirely by banning away supporters altogether from every remaining Old Firm fixture in domestic competition this season — covering the Scottish Premiership, the Premier Sports Cup and the Scottish Cup alike. It is an unprecedented state of affairs for Scottish football’s biggest and most historic rivalry, and one that has drawn criticism from figures on both sides of the divide. Former Celtic striker Tony Watt did not hold back in his assessment of the situation on Clyde 1’s Superscoreboard, branding the ongoing standoff “childish… from both sides,” while ex-Rangers player Alex Rae argued that a compromise allocation in the region of 2,500 would have been the more sensible outcome, warning that ordinary supporters were the ones ultimately losing out from the impasse. Reports also suggested Celtic boss Martin O’Neill had floated the idea of rejecting any allocation altogether on principle before the dispute was settled by the league’s intervention.

Whatever the merits of either side’s position, the practical effect on Sunday was clear: an eerily one-sided atmosphere inside Ibrox, with the away end sitting empty and Celtic’s players denied even the smallest slice of vocal backing as their afternoon spiralled out of control. It is impossible to say with certainty how much that contributed to the freneticism of Celtic’s start, but a team that has thrived domestically in front of full and vocal home support at Celtic Park will not have found it easy to settle into a game played out entirely in front of hostile noise from a single end.

Celtic Player Ratings

Sam Johnstone — 3/10 The Wolves loanee endured a torrid afternoon between the sticks, culpable for errors in the build-up to several dangerous Rangers moments even before Neil’s opener arrived. He did produce one good stop from Kim Min-su shortly after the restart, but his overall level of command throughout the ninety minutes fell well short of what was required on the biggest stage he has faced since arriving at Parkhead. Conceding three on an afternoon where more composed goalkeeping might have kept the scoreline respectable will not have done his case for the number one jersey any favours.

Colby Donovan — 4/10 Offered some encouraging moments in an attacking sense, including the pass that sent Hogh through early on, but was booked for a foul born of trying to deal with Djeidi Gassama’s pace out wide, and found himself exposed defensively as Rangers’ second goal came down his side of the pitch.

Cameron Carter-Vickers — 5/10 Struggled with his distribution from deep and was outmuscled at key moments, though he showed some fight in the battles for first contact throughout. Ultimately overwhelmed as the afternoon wore on and Rangers’ attacking momentum built.

Liam Scales — 6/10 The pick of a difficult afternoon for Celtic’s defence. His goal-line clearance in the early stages prevented what would have been an even more chastening scoreline, and he put in plenty of honest defensive work throughout, even if he too struggled to engage Rangers attackers as they broke forward with increasing regularity.

Kieran Tierney — 5/10 Tried to offer an attacking outlet down the left but frequently found himself pinned back in his own half. Left Kevin Kelsy unmarked at the back post for Rangers’ second goal, a costly lapse in concentration at a pivotal moment in the contest.

Callum McGregor — 4/10 The Celtic captain was dispossessed on more than one occasion in a rare off-colour derby display, though he remained the side’s most active outlet on the ball in central areas. His failure to close down Neil in the build-up to the opening goal will be a source of frustration given his usual defensive discipline in that role.

Mika Baur — 3/10 The summer signing sat far too deep for Neil’s opener and was consistently overrun in midfield battles throughout. He appeared to be swallowed up by the occasion as Rangers’ players in blue swarmed around him whenever he had the ball, and it was a chastening introduction to Old Firm football.

Benjamin Nygren — 3/10 Booked early in the contest and never found a foothold as Rangers dominated the middle of the park. Needed to offer far more of the goalscoring threat he has shown in other fixtures this season, but nothing came off for him before he was withdrawn.

Sebastian Tounekti — 3/10 Handed a significant show of faith by O’Neill in the starting eleven but struggled to make any meaningful impact on the game, and was withdrawn at half-time with the tie already slipping away, his big opportunity gone.

Kasper Hogh — 3/10 The club’s club-record summer signing endured a miserable afternoon that crystallised his stuttering start to life in Scotland. His moment of individual quality breaking clear on goal ended in embarrassment as he lost his footing and fell over his own feet, summing up an afternoon to forget for the Danish forward and reigniting the debate over his place in O’Neill’s starting eleven.

Camilo Duran — 5/10 Arguably Celtic’s most threatening presence going forward, with some encouraging direct running that occasionally troubled the Rangers defence. He continues to look a more natural and effective option playing through the middle rather than out wide, and O’Neill now faces a significant selection decision over who leads his attack going forward.

Hasseim Hassan — 5/10 Brought on at half-time and instantly looked like a useful, pacy outlet in behind the Rangers defence, breaking forward on a couple of occasions with real purpose. Some may question why he was not involved from the start given his impact off the bench.

James Forrest — 3/10 Introduced at 2-0 down in an effort to try to steady a sinking ship, but with the game already drifting away from Celtic by the time he entered, it was always going to be a difficult afternoon to make a telling impact.

Two further substitutes came on late with the contest already decided, offering little in the way of meaningful evidence either way as Rangers comfortably saw out the closing stages.

The Road to the Quarter-Final

Both sides had arrived at this stage of the competition in emphatic fashion, which only made the lopsided nature of Sunday’s result more striking. Rangers had put five past holders St Mirren in the second round at Ibrox, while Celtic were similarly ruthless in their own previous round, thrashing Dundee United 4-0 at Tannadice. On the balance of that form, and given Celtic’s flawless six-from-six start in the Premiership compared with a considerably more turbulent opening to the season for McInnes’s side domestically, most neutral observers would have expected a far closer contest than the one that ultimately unfolded. That contrast between pre-match form lines and the eventual gulf on the pitch will only sharpen the scrutiny on O’Neill’s side in the days ahead.

Dan Neil’s Rise to Old Firm Hero

Much of the post-match conversation will rightly centre on Dan Neil, whose double made him the toast of Ibrox and handed McInnes his first taste of victory in Scottish football’s biggest fixture. Signed from Sunderland over the summer as part of Rangers’ extensive rebuild, Neil had already been entrusted with the captain’s armband by McInnes, a significant show of faith in a player still finding his feet in Scottish football. His opener — created by his own composure rather than any great creative input from teammates — was a reminder of the quality that made him such a coveted performer in the English Championship, while his second, curled precisely into the top corner from distance, was the finish of a player growing in confidence and stature with every passing week in Govan. For a player captaining his new side in just his first Old Firm derby, it was as complete and influential a personal performance as this fixture is ever likely to produce.

Kevin Kelsy’s contribution should not be understated either. Signed for a club-record fee over the summer, the striker had cut a slightly frustrated figure for large parts of the opening period, missing at least two presentable early opportunities before finally opening his Rangers account with a well-taken finish shortly after the hour mark. For a player under considerable pressure to justify his price tag, breaking his duck in an Old Firm derby, of all fixtures, will do wonders for his own confidence as he looks to establish himself as McInnes’s first-choice centre-forward heading into the busier winter schedule.

A Result That Changes the Season’s Narrative

It is rare for a single ninety minutes to shift the balance of an entire campaign’s narrative so dramatically, but Sunday’s result at Ibrox has the potential to do exactly that. Celtic’s serene, untroubled start to the season had begun to generate its own momentum — a sense that O’Neill’s summer rebuild, built around record-breaking investment in Kasper Hogh and Camilo Duran, was already delivering the kind of results many had hoped for when the club backed its manager so heavily in the transfer market. That narrative now looks considerably shakier. A 3-0 defeat inside their fiercest rivals’ stadium, in a competition they had dominated for over a decade, will inevitably reopen questions about the balance and resilience of O’Neill’s squad that a perfect league record had, until now, kept largely at bay.

For Rangers, meanwhile, the win offers tangible proof that the upheaval of McInnes’s difficult early months in charge is beginning to translate into results against the very best opposition Scottish football has to offer. Progression to the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals is itself a significant achievement given the turbulence that preceded it, but the manner and scoreline of Sunday’s victory will matter just as much to a fanbase and a manager both eager for evidence that brighter days lie ahead.

What It Means for O’Neill

For all the anger that will follow among the Celtic support, it is worth stressing that this was a cup exit rather than a league defeat, and O’Neill’s side remain unbeaten and five points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table. But the manner of the loss will sting regardless. A first defeat of any kind this season, suffered so emphatically and so early in a season that had begun with such promise, raises fresh questions about a Celtic squad that has looked increasingly vulnerable in recent weeks despite maintaining its perfect domestic record. The Kasper Hogh situation, in particular, is likely to dominate discussion in the build-up to next Sunday’s Premiership reverse fixture at Celtic Park, with the Danish forward’s continued struggles for form now stretching across both competitions and adding further weight to the argument that Camilo Duran, despite playing out of position on Sunday, may need to be trusted as the central focal point of Celtic’s attack when the two sides meet again.

For McInnes, meanwhile, this represents precisely the kind of statement result his fledgling Rangers reign has been crying out for. After a difficult start to the season that included European exits and inconsistent early league form, a first Old Firm victory as Rangers manager — and a resounding one at that — will do wonders for confidence inside Ibrox heading into a rematch just seven days later. With Rangers reportedly extending their winning run to five games by the time the sides meet again in the league, and with away fans banned from Celtic Park under the same league-wide arrangement that emptied Ibrox on Sunday, McInnes will sense a genuine opportunity to complete a rare Old Firm double in the space of a single week — a prospect that would have seemed almost unthinkable given the respective form of the two sides only a fortnight ago.