Celtic beat Rangers 1-0 in the first Old Firm derby of the season.
Celtic won in the first Old Firm derby of the season as they beat Rangers 1-0 at Parkhead this afternoon, with Olivier Ntcham the match-winner.
The Bhoys came into the game having endured a difficult few weeks, with boss Brendan Rodgers frustrated with a lack of signings, the club crashing out of the Champions League and then Moussa Dembele’s deadline day exit on Friday.
With Rangers buoyant under new boss Steven Gerrard, some were left believing that the Gers could spring a surprise on Celtic this afternoon – but the Bhoys re-asserted their dominance.
Rodgers’ side were relentless in the first half and were virtually camped in the Rangers half, but hit the woodwork three times before finally breaking Gerrard’s men down.
With Rangers attempting to push forward more, they were caught out at the back, as midfielder Ntcham finished off a sweeping counter-attack to wrap up a 1-0 victory for Celtic.
Celtic have at least silenced claims that Rangers are closing the gap, and whilst a host of players were impressive, one man certainly stood tall at the back; Dedryck Boyata.
The Belgian centre back has been at the centre of a real storm this summer, as he contract rebel – who becomes a free agent next summer – attempted to engineer a move away from Celtic and made himself unavailable for the club’s games against AEK Athens, leading to fans unfurling a huge banner at last week’s game against Hamilton Academical claiming he wasn’t fit to play for the club.
However, Boyata is staying with Celtic after the closure of the transfer market, and he put any transfer speculation behind him with a colossal performance in the Bhoys defence, as he dominated Alfredo Morelos and was unbeatable in the air.
Fans took to Twitter to admit they were wrong to slam Boyata a week ago, apologising to the former Manchester City man whilst hailing Rodgers for bringing him back into the Celtic setup, adding that he was outstanding, exceptional and tremendous, admitting that all is now forgiven.
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