Soccer

Tale of the game - Celtic blast five past Rangers

Celtic's Moussa Dembele (right) celebrates after scoring the first goal of the game during the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park, Glasgow.  
Celtic's Moussa Dembele (right) celebrates after scoring the first goal of the game during the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park, Glasgow.   Celtic's Moussa Dembele (right) celebrates after scoring the first goal of the game during the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park, Glasgow.  

A HAT-TRICK from Moussa Dembele helped Celtic toast a 5-1 thrashing of Rangers in the first Old Firm league clash in four years.

The former Fulham frontman was deputising for the injured Leigh Griffiths but did not let his boss Brendan Rodgers down as he bulleted the champions ahead after 33 minutes.

Rob Kiernan's mistake then allowed the Frenchman to tuck away a second nine minutes later but Gers frontman Joe Garner fired his side back into the contest on the stroke of half-time with a close-range header.

But things only got worse for the Ibrox side after the break when Scott Sinclair slotted home the third goal just after the hour mark and Dembele wrapped up his treble six minutes from time after Gers debutant Philippe Senderos got himself send off after collecting two bookings, with Stuart Armstrong rubbing salt into the visitors' wounds with a late fifth.

TWEET OF THE MATCH - "Easy, easy, easy,.... #OldFirm @celticfc," Tenerife's former Celtic midfielder Marc Crosas (@marccrosas).

STAR MAN - Moussa Dembele has had a frustrating time since swapping Craven Cottage for Celtic Park, with his own patchy form and the red-hot instincts of Griffiths keeping out of Rodgers' team. But with the Scotland striker ruled out injured, the 20-year-old was given the opportunity to spearhead the Hoops attack and made the most with three clinical finished and another assist to boot.

DATA POINT - Old Firm hat-tricks are rarer events than finding hen's teeth. Demeble's trio of goals was the first in the fixture since 1984, when Ally McCoist bagged the match ball as Rangers claimed the League Cup with a 3-2 win in the Hampden final. The last Celtic player to hit the net three times in a derby clash with the Ibrox men was Stevie Chalmers back in January 1966.

REF WATCH - Tensions were always going to be running high as Rangers made their first visit to Glasgow's east end in four years. But Willie Collum will be grateful that the players did not get too carried away amid the feisty atmosphere. The official still had to dish out six bookings, a red card and send Rangers assistant boss Davie Weir to the stand but it was a controlled display from Scotland's top referee.

RATINGS

Celtic  (out of 10) - Dorus de Vries: 7; Mikael Lustig: 7; Kolo Toure: 7; Erik Sviatchenko: 6; Kieran Tierney: 6; Nir Bitton: 6; Scott Brown: 6; James Forrest: 6; Tom Rogic: 6; Scott Sinclair: 8; Moussa Dembele: 9


Substitutes: Stuart Armstrong (on 53, for Rogic): 6; Patrick Roberts (on 64, for Forrest): 5; Callum McGregor (on 74, for Brown) 5

Rangers (out of 10) - Wes Foderingham: 5; James Tavernier: 5; Rob Kiernan: 5; Philippe Senderos: 4; Lee Wallace: 5; Joey Barton: 5; Niko Kranjcar: 4; Josh Windass: 7; Kenny Miller: 6; Joe Garner: 6; Barrie McKay: 5


Substitutes: Andy Halliday (on 46, for Kranjcar): 5; Martyn Waghorn (on 63, for Miller): 4; Harry Forrester (on 71, for Kiernan): 4

WHO'S UP NEXT?

Barcelona v Celtic (Champions League, September 13)

Rangers v Ross County (Scottish Premiership, September 17)