Match Pictures | Matches: 2025 – 2026
Trivia
- KO: 12:30; Saturday, Sky Sports
- Ne’er Day Derby
- Sevco away fans at the game 2,362. Recent seasons so block on away fans between the clubs.
- First Glasgow derby for both managers.
- Six defeats out of eight games now for Nancy.
- The Green Brigade confirmed that they’re still banned this match. Not ideal when wanting a hostile atmosphere.
- Minutes applause for recently passed away Celtic assistant manager John Robertson, RIP.
- Sevco player Dujon Sterling was arrested the next morning after a one-vehicle collision on West Graham Street in the Cowcaddens area of the city at about 01:25 on Sunday.
- Post-Note: Wilfried Nancy was sacked two days later with Celtic Head of football operations (and self-styled “football doctor”) Paul Tisdale also sacked. Ex-Celtic manager Martin O’Neill returned for third stint as manager, this time expected to remain till the end of the season.
- Celtic have added experienced former Chelsea scout James Bell-Walker to recruitment staff, while work continues on the potential addition of two strikers alongside winger targets.
- Aberdeen sacked their manager Jimmy Thelin.
- Ex-Celt Chris Sutton urges the club’s board to back or sack manager Wilfried Nancy, who has lost five of his opening seven matches in charge.
- Transfers – January transfer window:
- Celtic signed Bournemouth defender Julian Araujo on loan for the rest of the season.
- In:
- Julian Araujo – On loan – 6mth
- Out:
- Jahmai Simpson-Pusey loan ended early
- Hayato Inamura to FC Tokyo on loan
- Reports:
- Manchester City are set to cancel defender Jahmai Simpson-Pusey’s season-long loan at Celtic.
- Celtic are pushing to sign Mexico defender Julian Araujo on loan from Bournemouth in time to face Sevco.
- Trabzonspor are aiming to beat Celtic to the signing of Ivory Coast winger Jocelin Ta Bi after making a £2.5m offer for the 20-year-old, who is on loan with Hapoel Petah Tikva from Maccabi Netanya.
- Columbus Crew defender Steven Moreira, 31, attended Celtic’s defeat by Rangers on Saturday. Moreira worked with Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy at Crew.
Summary
Michael StewartFormer Scotland midfielder on BBC Sportsound
“Untenable position for Wilfried Nancy. He disappears up the tunnel. He looks like a broken man. The disconnect between the manager and the team is so stark. It is not something that can continue and it should not have happened The people on the board who facilitated this should be shown the door as well. Celtic are in an absolute state.”
Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy tells BBC Scotland: “It was disappointing because we deserved more today, but again we needed more goals. “The first half was outstanding. The intensity, the pressure, the commitment to compete, but it was only 1-0. In the second half, we conceded three goals from throw ins. It’s difficult to accept, but it’s reality. “This is not about the players or the tactics, this is about moments. In a few moments, we could have done better. My players were outstanding in the first half, they wanted to do better in the second half, but the way we conceded, we have to be better. “We have come from behind when we were losing [in previous games], but at this moment there is a bit of fragility when we conceded the second goal. “This is not about myself, this is about disappointing the fans because I know the meaning of this game. They pushed us in a good way in the first half, they were behind us, but when we conceded goals, we wanted to push again. I can understand the disappointment, but I also saw what we’re able to do. It’s totally normal that they’re disappointed. “This is reality, but we have to stay together. We are really close, there are many things that can turn around. If it was not the case, I would not talk like this. We have many things that we are really close, but this is not enough regarding a few details. I really believe we can turn things around. “We are together with the board.”
Teams
Celtic
Celtic:
Manager Wilfried Nancy
Formation 03 – 4 – 2 – 1
Starting lineup
1, K. Schmeichel
63, K. Tierney, subbed for L. Scales at 88mins
6, A. Trusty
56, A. Ralston, subbed for J. Forrest at 88mins
14, L. McCowan, subbed for J. Araujo at 68mins
42, C. McGregor (c), Captain
27, A. Engels
13, Yang Hyun-Jun
38, D. Maeda
8, B. Nygren, subbed for R. Hatate at 74mins
24, J. Kenny, subbed for S. Yamada at 74mins
Subs:
22, J. Araujo
51, C. Donovan
49, J. Forrest
28, Paulo Bernardo
41, R. Hatate
47, D. Murray
5, L. Scales
12, V. Sinisalo
18, S. Yamada
Goals:
Yang Hyun-Jun (19′)
Assists:
B. Nygren (19′)
Goals:Yang Hyun-Jun (19′)
Assists: B. Nygren (19′)
TheRangers
Manager Danny Röhl
Formation 04 – 3 – 3
Starting lineup
1, J. Butland
30, J. Meghoma
37, E. Fernandez
5, J. Souttar (c), Captain
21, D. Sterling
11, T. Aasgaard, Yellow Card 7’M. Diomandé 46′, subbed for M. Diomandé at 46mins
43, N. Raskin
8, C. Barron
47, M. Moore
9, Youssef Chermiti, subbed for B. Miovski at 92mins
23, D. Gassama, Yellow Card 55’J. Tavernier 87′, subbed for J. Tavernier at 87mins
Subs:
3, M. Aarons
52, F. Curtis
10, M. Diomandé
20, K. Dowell
31, L. Kelly
28, B. Miovski, Yellow Card 90’+2
19, C. Nsiala
99, Danilo
2, J. Tavernier
…
Goals: Youssef Chermiti (50′, 59′) M. Moore (71′)
Assists: N. Raskin (50′), D. Gassama (71′)
Referee Steven McLean
Video Assistant Referee Kevin Clancy
Assistant Referee 1 David McGeachie
Assistant Referee 2 Jonathan Bell
Fourth Official Ross Hardie
Assistant VAR Official Grant Irvine
Venue:Celtic Park
Att:
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Match Links
- Prior
- Match
- Post
- MoTM
Stats
Overall possession
Celtic 65.4% Rangers 34.6%
Shots
Celtic 21 Rangers 9
Shots on target
Celtic 9 Rangers 4
Total touches inside the opposition box
Celtic 37 Rangers 19
Goalkeeper saves
Celtic 1 Rangers 8
Aerial duels won
Celtic 10 Rangers 19
Fouls committed
Celtic 13 Rangers 13
Corners
Celtic 8 Rangers 5
In-depth match stats
Attack
Shots
Celtic 21 Rangers 9
Shots on target
Celtic 9 Rangers 4
Shots off target
Celtic 6 Rangers 0
Attempts out of box
Celtic 7 Rangers 2
One-on-one attempts
Celtic 0 Rangers 1
Total offsides
Celtic 0 Rangers 3
Distribution
Total passes
Celtic 533 Rangers 276
Pass accuracy %
Celtic 82.9 Rangers 70.7
Backward passes
Celtic 91 Rangers 35
Forward passes
Celtic 160 Rangers 117
Total long balls
Celtic 42 Rangers 56
Successful final third passes
Celtic 124 Rangers 47
Total crosses
Celtic 23 Rangers 14
Defence
Total tackles
Celtic 25 Rangers 19
Won tackle %
Celtic 80 Rangers 63.2
Fouls committed
Celtic 13 Rangers 13
Total yellow cards
Celtic 0 Rangers 3
Total clearances
Celtic 25 Rangers 35
Pre Match Facts
Celtic are winless in their last four league games against Rangers (D2 L2); they had only failed to win four of their previous 12 Old Firm derbies in the Scottish Premiership beforehand (W8 D3 L1).
- Both of the last two league Old Firm derbies have been drawn; Celtic and Rangers haven’t played out three successive league draws since October 2002.
- Celtic are winless in the last three occasions that their first league game of a calendar year has come against Rangers (D1 L2), although each were at Ibrox. When playing their league opener of a year at home to the Gers, the Hoops are unbeaten in four (W2 D2) since a 4-2 defeat in 1994.
- Rangers have only lost their opening league match in one of the last 14 calendar years (W11 D2), going down 2-1 away to Kilmarnock in 2019.
- The last league meeting between Celtic and Rangers in August saw just nine shots and 0.34 expected goals. Since Opta have this data in the competition (from 2019-20), it’s the lowest xG on record in a Scottish Premiership match, and also the second-lowest shot tally in this time, ahead of only St. Johnstone v Livingston in May 2021 (7).
- Celtic have lost five of their 19 league games so far this season. It’s already their most defeats in a single campaign since 2020-21 (also 5), while they last suffered more defeats in 2012-13 (7).
- Rangers have won four of their last five league games (L1), just one fewer than they had in their first 14 this term (W5 D8 L1). Both of their defeats so far have been against league leaders Heart of Midlothian.
- This will be the first league Old Firm derby for both Celtic’s Wilfried Nancy and Rangers’ Danny Röhl; excluding committees, it’s only the fifth time both sides have had a manager leading their first league Old Firm derby at the same time, after September 1978 (Billy McNeil, John Greig), August 1991 (Liam Brady, Walter Smith), September 1998 (Jozef Vengloš, Dick Advocaat) and September 2016 (Brendan Rodgers, Mark Warburton).
Articles
BBC
At a glance
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/cm20290eg4et#Report
Yang Hyun-Jun drifts through a parting Rangers defence to crash in opener for hosts
Youssef Chermiti turns in from close range just after break to bring visitors level
Former Everton forward races in unchallenged for his second before Mikey Moore thunders in Rangers’ third
Sides now level on points in table with Celtic narrowly ahead in second place on goals scored
Celtic v Rangers – Sportscene highlights
03/01/2026
Watch on iPlayer
ByMartin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter at Celtic Park
Rangers drew level with Celtic in second place in the Scottish Premiership as Youssef Chermiti’s second-half double and Mikey Moore’s clincher gave Danny Rohl’s side an incredible comeback win.
Yang Hyun-Jun’s thumping finish was scant reward for Celtic’s dynamic first-half display but the script flipped entirely as Rangers seized on their opportunity and the hosts’ defensive fragility.
As events unfolded, a furious response from Celtic supporters emerged as they targeted the board, with ugly scenes in the stands as matters on the pitch increasingly became a side show.
It’s now six defeats in eight outings for under-siege manager Wilfried Nancy, who watched on as defensive frailty once again cost his side after initial promise evaporated.
For Rangers, eight points adrift of the champions when Rohl took charge, they are now firmly in the fight for the Premiership title after a stunning victory.
The stakes were incredibly high, with Rangers looking to claw their way back into the title race and, incredibly, level on points with Celtic. Given their start to this campaign that seemed unimaginable not long ago.
Nancy simply needed something to go right in a game of such importance. Yet again, a nightmare unfolded for the Frenchman.
However, on the evidence of the first half, Celtic should have won this comfortably.
Yang’s finish was superb, arrowing straight into the corner from a tight angle as the home side went for the jugular.
The South Korean looked inspired in the opening 45. Yet it was the complete opposite come full-time like every one of his team-mates.
Chance after chance arrived. Auston Trusty somehow missed a free header. Johnny Kenny was wasteful. Jack Butland stood defiant as Rangers were rocking.
Celtic failed to extend that lead and they were punished in full when Nicolas Raskin dribbled untouched past Trusty to the byeline and Chermiti tapped home from close range.
It got better for Rangers so easily. Chermiti surged into space down the left, Trusty decided not to close him down and the striker gratefully found the far corner.
Much-maligned since his arrival, the big-money striker repaid a big chunk here.
Rangers clearly sensed another would end the contest and Moore delivered with a fine finish.
That sparked furious scenes in the stands as Rangers fans rejoiced in the corner. A statement win for Rohl and, perhaps, a statement defeat for Nancy.
‘We are together with the board’ – Nancy defiant
Published
1 day ago
Analysis: Nancy’s Celtic disintegrate as Rangers Rohl on
Nancy needed a statement win. A statement performance. He got the second part. Unfortunately, for him, only for 45 minutes before everything disintegrated.
As good as Celtic were in the first half, they were as bad in the second.
The manager’s record of six defeats from eight leaves Celtic in crisis. Where they go from here is unclear.
The crowd, who were lapping up the first-half display, completely turned.
The board were met with anger as events unfolded. Is this recoverable? Yes, if results follow but there’s little to suggest that is coming.
This match encapsulated much of their seemingly self-inflicted issues.
From a position of strength they have made so many errors. They did that in this defeat and Rangers seized on their chance.
Rohl said pre-match that his side were ready for this. They didn’t seem so initially but when their chance came they were more than up to the challenge.
Their manager has prudently worked with this squad and now they are firmly in this title race.
With Celtic in freefall, Rangers now have all the momentum to go and chase down Hearts.
They deserve enormous credit for that and showed in this massive victory many of the elements required to challenge for the title.
What they said
Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy tells BBC Scotland: “It was disappointing because we deserved more today but again we needed more goals. The first half was outstanding, the intensity, the pressure, the commitment to compete but it was only 1-0. In the second half we conceded three goals from throw ins. It’s difficult to accept but it’s reality.
“This is not about the players or the tactics, this is about moments. In a few moments we could have done better. My players were outstanding in the first half, they wanted to do better in the second half but the way we conceded, we have to be better.
03:55
Media caption,
‘This is not about tactics’ – Nancy speaks after derby defeat
Rangers manager Danny Rohl: “I give big respect to my team. In the first half, we tried something, but they were better.
“We should enjoy this, but tomorrow but we have to be ready again for the next game. This is a demanding league.
“My players did really well today. It is a statement. It’s a massive three points, but now it’s about continuing our way and there’s also a good feeling to have three wins in a row now.”
y
BBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c79rzlrg9z2o
‘Haunted Nancy detached from reality as Celtic’s lights go out’
Wilfried NancyImage source, SNS
Image caption,
Nancy has lost six of the eight games he has managed at Celtic
By
Tom English
BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer
Published
3 January 2026
Celtic v Rangers – Sportscene highlights
03/01/2026
Watch on iPlayer
As he took a slow walk up the Celtic tunnel on full-time, it wasn’t hard to feel something for Wilfried Nancy, a haunted manager on the end of a sixth defeat in his eight games. Over-promoted and out of his depth.
A first half at Celtic Park that offered such promise made way for another second half of dismal collapse. They had Rangers on the ropes at the break but you always sensed that they needed a second goal to put them on the floor and maybe a third just to put them out for the count. These are Celtic’s frailties these days. One goal is never enough.
Those goals never came despite the chances they had. Once Rangers started to fight back, they hit Celtic with three blows in 21 minutes. Ruthless. The Celtic lights went out in an instant. From light to dark in the blink of an eye.
The colossal weaknesses in Nancy’s formation, the giant amounts of space conceded by his players were the problem again. That and their inability to stay in the fight. Was their feeble demise a window to their collective soul, a reflection of their spirit under the new, and surely doomed, manager? It looked like that. A lost dressing room? Perhaps. Just because it’s a cliche doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
‘We are together with the board’ – Nancy defiant after Celtic loss
Published
19 hours ago
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Published
18 June 2023
Once Rangers made it 2-1, Celtic had nothing left, only more indecision, more doubt and more tactical switches that defied logic. Their new signing, Julian Araujo, is a right-back, when he plays, which is not often.
He’s had one game this season for Bournemouth and got sent off in the last minute. In the derby, he came on at right wing-back, a move that meant that the dangerous Yang Hyun-jun had to be moved from the right to the left. Why do that? It was like a gift to Rangers.
Araujo was then deployed at right centre-half. He was on the field for 23 minutes and played two positions that he’s not familiar with. In an Old Firm debut. On his debut. With his team already 2-1 down and the crowd growing angrier by the second. He worked hard, but he must have been wondering what madness had descended on him.
Nancy ‘reaffirms distance from reality’
Rangers were far from great, but they were dogged and they hung in there and when their chances came they buried them. Youssef Chermiti, of all people, was the chief tormentor. In nine pulsating minutes he doubled his total for the season and wrote his name into a new kind of Rangers pantheon – from zero to hero.
Nancy spoke later and in trying to talk his way through the latest submission from his team he only reaffirmed his sense of distance from footballing reality.
He mentioned that Celtic “deserved more” than a 3-1 loss, when they didn’t. Not taking their chances when they had them was on Celtic, not anybody else. Deserve had nothing to do with it. It was the Celtic board who created a situation where their manager was left with scant options upfront. From meagre rations, he plumped for Johnny Kenny. It didn’t work out.
The Frenchman made some comments about the loss not being about players and tactics. “It’s about moments, it’s about details,” he said, as if moments and details exist in a parallel universe from players and managers.
“It’s not about myself,” he said. Well, it is, but to a point. It’s also about the players he has confused and bewildered with his ill-fitting shape and the ideology he refuses to alter no matter how befuddled things become.
On Friday, he made much of how difficult it’s been to introduce his system without a pre-season to bed-in his ideas. He didn’t have a pre-season to work with his players and he didn’t have a transfer window to bring in more players that could play his system. And yet he pressed on with the system regardless. Stubbornness? Arrogance? Naivety? All three at once?
Danny Rohl went into Rangers, surveyed what he had and got pragmatic. Like Nancy, he needs new players, too. Many of them. But he’s found a way to drag his team forward when his counterpart has only succeeded in taking his players backwards in the pursuit of something that only he can see.
The soft progress achieved under Martin O’Neill has been sacrificed on the altar of “process” and some self-regarding notion that Nancy is a visionary who’s building a footballing monument.
03:55
Media caption,
‘This is not about tactics’ – Nancy speaks after derby defeat
Banter roles reversed across the city
This Celtic malaise is not just about the manager, though. It’s about the man who put him forward for the position, Paul Tisdale, the club’s director of football operations. What was the process? Who else was spoken to? How much due diligence was done? Was this a thought-out strategy or a punt?
Given everything we have seen, the only case to be made is for the latter. There isn’t a shred of evidence that Nancy was the right man for this pressure-filled job. Not then and not now.
We can carry on here. Nancy, Tisdale – and, of course, the Celtic board who ratified the appointment. The toxicity between board and supporters is now touching historic proportions, the anger fuelled, of course, by lamentable results but also a sense that nothing profound is going to change with billionaire Dermot Desmond as major shareholder and of no mind to go anywhere.
Celtic fan protestImage source, SNS
Image caption,
Celtic fans protest outside the club’s stadium on Saturday after full-time
As a city rival, Celtic folk took great humour from Rangers’ travails for most of the season – their slapstick signings, their ex-manager smuggled out the back of a stadium and then fired, their dismissal of Kevin Thelwell and Patrick Stewart, two major figures at the club.
Despite all of that, Rangers are now level on points with Celtic. Both of them are trailing Hearts. At least Rangers have had their purge, their moment when they accepted with a bit of humility that they had made mistakes and that the manager, the sporting director and the chief executive had to go. They have a cleanish slate now. Celtic do not.
They have problems at every turn. Relieving Nancy of his duties is just part of it, but it should be the first part. Eight games is a painfully short spell in charge but there isn’t a crumb of evidence to support him staying.
On Saturday afternoon the wall of police and stewards holding the line between furious fans and the front door of Celtic Park was alarming. Nancy’s days are numbered, you have to think. No promise of jam tomorrow is cutting through now.
If the Celtic board bring this experiment to an end, what then? The bat signal sent up for O’Neill? Maybe, but the fog of uncertainty around this club doesn’t just clear if he returns. This chaos is on Nancy, but not only Nancy.
Derby defeat at home for Celtic
https://www.celticfc.com/news/2026/january/03/derby-defeat-at-home-for-celtic-/
First Team
By Matthew Campbell
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03 Jan 2026, 2:39 pm
Scottish Premiership
Saturday, January 3, 2026
Celtic Park
CELTIC…1
(Yang 20)
RANGERS…3
(Chermiti 50 & 59, Moore 73)
Celtic were defeated 3-1 by Rangers at Celtic Park this afternoon, with the away side finding scoring three times in the second half to win the match.
Early in the match, Arne Engels went down in some discomfort after feeling the effects of a flailing arm from Rangers’ Emmanuel Fernandez, though it was the Celtic man who was penalised for the foul.
The first chance of the match went the way of Celtic, with Johnny Kenny flashing a ball across the face of goal, but there were no takers in green and white to divert the ball in to the back of the net.
With just over 10 minutes gone, it looked as though Auston Trusty had given Celtic the lead that their early play would have deserved when he rose highest in the box to get his head to an Arne Engels’ corner, but the American’s headed effort drifted just wide of target.
Celtic were the team in control of the match and with 20 minutes gone, the goal that they had sought was delivered in stunning fashion by Yang.
The Korean received the ball from Benjamin Nygren on the right wing at least 35 yards out from goal and proceeded to weave his way in to Rangers’ penalty area before unleashing a thunderous strike in to the top corner to make it 1-0 to Celtic.
The visitors came close to levelling five minutes later when Djeidi Gassama went through on goal and fired a shot towards Kasper Schmeichel, but the Celtic keeper was equal to it and was able to touch it behind for a corner.
Jack Butland had to produce a smart save with just over half an hour of the match gone when Johnny Kenny sent a powerful effort towards the bottom corner which the visitors’ keeper done well to keep out.
65%
Possession
35%
21
Shots
9
9
Shots On Target
4
8
Corners
5
13
Fouls
13
0
0
Cards
3
0
The scoreline was level early in the second half when Chermiti got on to the end of a Nicolas Raskin cross which was fired across the face of goal, giving the forward a tap-in from a few yards out.
Daizen Maeda went close to re-establishing the Celtic lead almost immediately when he picked up a Luke McCowan pass inside the box, but his effort on the spin was saved by Butland.
Rangers went 2-1 ahead just before the hour mark, and once again it was Chermiti with the goal. This time he picked up the ball some distance from goal and drifted in to the box before firing a shot beyond Kasper Schmeichel.
Again, Daizen Maeda found himself with a chance to score almost immediately after the restart, though on this occasion, his powerful effort from inside the box went just wide of the far post.
With just over 20 minutes to go, Wilfried Nancy made his first change of the match, replacing Luke McCowan with Julián Araujo for his first appearance in a Celtic jersey after joining the club on loan from Bournemouth.
The away side extended their lead in the 73rd minute, with Mikey Moore sending a shot in to the bottom corner from just inside the box to consign Celtic to a 3-1 defeat.
Celtic: Schmeichel, Ralston (Forrest 88′), Trusty, Tierney (Scales 88′), Hyunjun Yang, Engels, McGregor, McCowan (Araujo 68′), Nygren (Hatate 74′), Maeda, Kenny (Yamada 74′)
Subs: Scales, Sinisalo, Yamada, Araujo, Paulo Bernardo, Hatate, Murray, Forrest, Donovan
Rangers: Butland, Sterling, Souttar, Fernandez, Meghoma, Barron, Raskin, Aasgaard (Diomande 45′), Gassama (Tavernier 87′), Youssef Chermiti (Miovski 92′), Moore
Subs: Tavernier, Aarons, Diomande, Nsiala, Dowell, Miovski, Kelly, Curtis, Danilo
…