Moussa Dembele scored a hat-trick on his Old Firm debut – and Celtic’s clash with Rangers next week gives Alfredo Morelos the chance to make a statement.
It’s fair to say Moussa Dembele announced himself to the Old Firm derby in style. Just weeks into his burgeoning Celtic career, the French phenomenon scribed his name into the history books by scoring the first hat-trick in Scotland’s most high-profile fixture for 50 years.
The famous 5-1 was Dembele’s derby.
And, with the former Fulham youngster scoring twice on his first appearance of an injury-ridden season against Ross County on Saturday, Rangers may be fearing another goalscoring blitz from the 21-year-old when they welcome Celtic to Ibrox next weekend.
However, this time around, the blue half of Glasgow have their own secret weapon, their own talented young striker waiting for the chance to announce himself in the biggest game of the season so far.
Like Dembele last season, Alfredo Morelos has made quite the impact in Scottish football since moving to Rangers from HJK Helsinki this summer. A left-field signing certainly but, just nine games into his career in Scotland, the Colombian looks set to repay that fee with interest.
Morelos’ moment?
He’s scored eight goals already, including six in six league games. Continuing that prolific form against a Celtic side still without key centre-halves Dedryck Boyata and Erik Sviatchenko may give Pedro Caixinha’s side a real chance to make amends for that 5-1 mauling 12 months ago.
And, if Morelos can take inspiration from Dembele’s derby debut, there will be two highly-rated, Glasgow-based goalscorers dominating the gossip columns for months to come.
Rangers’ initial concern, however, is a first league win over Celtic since 2012. And, with Morelos up front, that is certainly a more realistic hope than this time last year.
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