Celtic fans were left raging by how Vaclav Cerny celebrated Rangers’ late winner in the Old Firm derby.
It appeared as though Celtic had salvaged a draw after coming from 2-0 down to level the Scottish Premiership match at 2-2.
Rangers raced into a two-goal lead thanks to first-half goals from Nicolas Raskin and Mohamed Diomande.
Daizen Maeda gave the Celtic Park faithful hope shortly after the half-time break before Reo Hatate levelled for the hosts.
The momentum was fully with Celtic but Rangers responded brilliantly and scored a late winner through Hamza Igamane’s superb strike.
The goal sparked bedlam in the away end and on Rangers’ bench, with the coaching staff and substitutes going wild.
Cerny, who has just been subbed off, ran down the touchline and sprayed the nearby Celtic fans with a water bottle.
The fans understandably looked furious at being drenched but Cerny was hailed as a ‘hero’ by Rangers supporters on social media.
His captain, James Tavernier, said he was ‘delighted’ by Rangers’ response as they inflicted a first Scottish Premiership defeat on Celtic since December 2023.
‘Obviously happy to get the result,’ he told Sky Sports. ‘We had a really good first half and maybe sat off a bit much second half.
‘Delighted to get the three points. It’s been a good week for the club. We showed resilience, we were brave on the ball and took our chances. We were clinical.
‘With the character we’ve shown in the past few weeks, we had belief to the end and Hamza pulls off a great goal. Delighted for the boys.’
Player of the match and Rangers goalscorer Raskin added: ‘It’s amazing to score and make the stadium a bit calmer.
‘The gaffer wanted us to go aggressive and put the pressure. It was really good.’
Despite the victory, Rangers remain 13 points behind Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic.
The Ibrox club struggled under former manager Philippe Clement but look vastly improved under interim boss Barry Ferguson, beating Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce last week to reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
‘Rangers showed bundles of character today,’ ex-Celtic manager Neil Lennon said.
‘Celtic weren’t functioning as well as they could have done. You can’t give a two-goal lead to any team, particularly your biggest rivals.
‘Celtic get it back to 2-2 and then switch off. It’s a hell of a finish to win it.’
Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton added: ‘Celtic missed Callum McGregor’s leadership and they missed his quality.
‘It was so careless the goal they gave away for the winner. I think Cameron Carter-Vickers ducks out of the way.
‘Rangers have beaten Celtic twice this season, but they are not going to win the league.
‘They play well when the pressure isn’t on. In many ways they’ll be kicking themselves, because they can produce performances like today but they’re miles away.’
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