Celtic 3-0 Rangers: Hoops cruise to victory over bitter rivals in first Old Firm of the season – as familiar foes Callum McGregor and Kyogo Furuhashi topple Philippe Clement’s men

Celtic condemned arch-rivals Rangers to a fifth successive home defeat thanks to two sensational goals that made a game of this magnitude well worth watching.

Brendan Rodgers’ heavily backed men went into the biggest game in the Scottish Premiership having lost just one of their previous twelve Old Firm games.

And almost everything about this afternoon’s match seemed familiar, from the convincing score to the flood of yellow cards and the dance Poznan brought about by the exuberant home crowd towards the end.

Indeed, it was two stars from that impressive run of Celtic dominance who did their job again, this time in devastating fashion, winning 3-0.

After a fine opening goal from Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi and Callum McGregor beat a sloppy Rangers team to move to top of the league, a position they hope to maintain for the entire campaign.

Celtic condemned arch-rivals Rangers to a fifth consecutive home defeat thanks to a screamer from Callum McGregor

Brendan Rodgers’ heavily backed men went into the biggest game in the Scottish Premiership having lost just one of the previous twelve Old Firms

The away side actually had the better of the game in the opening ten minutes in a typically tense encounter at Celtic Park, with both sets of fans trying to outdo the other.

The first chance fell to Rangers’ Cyriel Dessers, who lacked the precision to fire the ball past the imposing Kasper Schmeichel, but he was unruffled when the offside flag was raised.

Shortly afterwards, Rabbi Matondo had an even better chance thanks to a threatening cross from James Tavernier, but he somehow managed to tip the ball wide.

It didn’t take long for Rangers to regret their missed chances when Celtic scored against the odds – or so they thought. Furuhashi’s finish from Nicolas Kuhn was ruled out for offside.

But in the 17th minute the home side had the ball in the net again and this time it held. Alistair Johnston came to the bye-line and cut the ball back to Maeda who made no mistake.

The match brightened after the season opener, when Johnston, Mohamed Diomande and Jefté all received yellow cards.

And in the book he was assisted by Rangers manager Alex Rae, who had already received a warning as a player.

At that point the away side were on the brink when central defender John Souttar got caught in the penalty area and nearly paid the price for the advancing Celtic players who missed a good chance.

The reigning champions then nearly opened the scoring again, but this time Maeda fired a free-kick straight at Tavernier.

Then a stunning performance from Kyogo. The Japan international picked up the ball from a seemingly innocent position in the middle of the park before stoking the roof of Celtic Park with a long-range shot low to the left of the keeper.

It certainly looked like Jack Butland, a former Englander, would have been better placed in the centre of the goal, but either way, the shot was very powerful.

Somehow, Philippe Clement’s men failed to concede a single goal before half-time, defying Celtic’s relentless onslaught to go into half-time 2-0 down.

The home team defeated a sloppy Rangers side to jump to top of the league

Almost everything about this afternoon’s match seemed familiar, from the convincing score to the flood of bookings and the dance in Poznan

Rangers looked to be back on track early in the second period, but their finishing paled in comparison to their arch-rivals, with Dessers having to make a few feeble attempts to get his point across.

After another series of mandatory yellow cards from the Old Firm, including for Dessers, Tom Lawrence and Nicolas Kuhn, the away team were left with the familiar torment of squandering missed chances.

Experienced midfielder Callum McGregor had scored the best goal in two as many games prior to this match and he secured Celtic a win with the best of them all.

The Hoops have gone four games without conceding a goal this season and every time Rangers groaned and groaned they seemed unable to break the deadlock.

With 60,000 Celtic fans in the festive mood, the final 20 minutes were a formality, but the difference in quality between these two great teams has been as wide as it can be recently.