Celtic vs Rangers. Scottish Premiership.
Celtic ParkAttendance58,320.
Monday 30 April 2018 06:16, UK
Celtic clinched their seventh straight Scottish Premiership title in style as they thumped Old Firm rivals Rangers 5-0.
Brendan Rodgers' side were relentless from the start and surged into a 3-0 lead at half-time after two goals from Odsonne Edouard and then one from James Forrest.
Rangers had no answer and Tom Rogic added the fourth early in the second half before Callum McGregor made it 5-0 shortly afterwards.
The hosts spurned chances to win by an even greater margin, but that did little to dampen the celebrations at a buoyant Celtic Park as Rangers slumped to another heavy defeat against their rivals.
Celtic will now have their sights set on completing an historic second treble in two seasons when they face Motherwell in the Scottish Cup final on May 19.
Rangers, meanwhile, will be left wondering how they can close a huge gap on their rivals.
If Steven Gerrard - who is a contender to be the next Rangers manager - was watching then he would have seen very few encouraging signs in a poor overall performance from the visitors.
Celtic piled on the pressure from the first whistle and, after Jak Alnwick had made two sharp saves to deny Olivier Ntcham, Edouard scored the opener from Kieran Tierney's cross in the 14th minute.
The hosts continued to look a cut above their opponents, although Jason Holt did force Craig Gordon into a decent low save in the 27th minute.
However, once Edouard scored the second goal after 42 minutes the game was only going one way.
Forrest fired in the third before the break and Rogic curled home to make it 4-0 after McGregor had been denied by Alnwick.
Edouard pulled the ball back for McGregor to add another shortly afterwards and Rangers were fortunate not to lose by more.
Celtic's biggest win over Rangers was 7-1 in 1957 and they threatened to match or surpass that as Alnwick saved from Ntcham, Forrest and Rogic before substitute Leigh Griffiths fired over from a good position.
Josh Windass hit the post for Rangers and Alfredo Morelos was denied by Gordon, but those were rare moments of cheer for the visiting fans on an otherwise bleak afternoon.
A constant threat to the Rangers defence, Edouard produced a fine display after being chosen to lead the line in the absence of Moussa Dembele.
The 20-year-old broke the deadlock early and then scored again to put Celtic in control. He continued to cause Rangers problem in the second half and teed up McGregor for the fifth. It would surely be a boost for Celtic if his loan from Paris Saint-Germain can be turned into a permanent deal in the summer.
Celtic travel to Hearts next Sunday before home games against Kilmarnock (Wednesday, May 9) and then Aberdeen (live on Sky Sports on Sunday, May 13). They face Motherwell in the Scottish Cup final on Sky Sports on May 19.
Rangers finish the campaign with a home match against Kilmarnock next Saturday and then trips to Aberdeen (live on Sky Sports on Tuesday, May 8) and Hibernian (Sunday, May 13).
