Ange Postecoglou delights in Celtic's thrashing of Rangers

Ange Postecoglou delights in Celtic’s thrashing of Rangers as Australian labels stunning win as ‘right up there’ with his best ever victories after Bhoys leapfrogged their arch rivals to top spot in the Scottish Premiership

• Ange Postecoglou has delighted in Celtic’s huge win over arch rivals Rangers 
• The Bhoys put three past the Gers to leapfrog them into top spot in the league 
• Celtic boss Postecoglou labelled his side’s win as one of his best as a manager 

Ange Postecoglou described Celtic’s 3-0 thrashing of Rangers as one of the best nights of his managerial career.

The Parkhead side leapfrogged their bitter rivals at the summit of the SPFL Premiership after a blistering first half display.

Japanese midfielder Reo Hatate starred on his Old Firm debut with two first half goals. Winger Liel Abada added a third before half-time as champions Rangers left the field shell-shocked.

Ange Postecoglou has delighted in Celtic’s thrashing of Rangers at Parkhead on Wednesday

Celtic’s first win over Rangers since December 2019, the brilliance of Allan McGregor prevented a more emphatic scoreline.

Warning his side to blank out any title talk with 14 games to play the Celtic boss admitted a pulsating night in his first Old Firm game at Parkhead was up there with the best nights of his career.

‘I have been pretty lucky,’ said Postecoglou. ‘I have had some special experiences in my football career and tonight was right up there.

‘From the moment we walked out, the wall of noise the energy in the stadium was just outstanding.

The Bhoys leapfrogged their arch rivals Rangers into top spot in the Scottish Premiership

Reo Hatate was the star of the show as the Japan international netted twice against Rangers

‘From my perspective the anxiety grows because I wanted to repay that and I wanted the players to repay that and they fed off the energy in the right way. They rose to the occasion and gave the fans the kind of performance that the supporters deserve.’

With no away fans allowed in to Parkhead a crowd of almost 60,000 Celtic supporters were given a rousing start when Hatate fired home after five minutes.

Despite three breathtaking saves from Rangers keeper McGregor, the visitors folded in the three minutes before half-time when Hatate added a sublime second and Abada scored with the last kick of the half.

Despite the lure of a potential place in the group stages of the Champions League for the title winners, Postecoglou shot down any talk of a huge psychological blow for Rangers.

Postecoglou paid credit to the vociferous support of the Celtic masses that spurred them on

‘I don’t buy the psychological stuff. The important thing for us is that it doesn’t affect us.

‘Our end goal is not to be in top spot it’s to play football a certain way and to win things and we haven’t done that. I know what the players are like, they will do their recovery and then come back in on Friday and demand more of me and of anyone to get better.

‘We want to improve and we will have to, to be the football team we want to be. We are still missing some key players.’

‘Being in top spot is a sign of our progression, absolutely, because we lost three of the first five or six so we know how the Scottish Premiership works.

‘We had to be almost perfect to get to where we are now. We have been under pressure for a long time but it’s testament to the players’ character and the spirit they’ve got that they haven’t let that affect them. They haven’t looked at the table and the points and they won’t now.’

Reluctant to single any players out Postecoglou reserved praise for the sublime Hatate, a January signing from Japanese champions Kawasaki Frontale. Right-back Josip Juranovic had his best game for the club while captain Callum McGregor battled back from a facial injury to play with a mask

The Australian described Wednesday’s victory as one of the best nights in his career

‘I don’t want to single anyone out because I thought it was an unbelievable effort from the whole group.

‘Reo is not fit enough yet, he has a lot of work to do and still has improvement to do but I knew what I was getting he is a quality player. Tonight he showed his temperament as well because on the big occasion when he needed to he had the quality. But he wasn’t the only one. I thought the whole group was outstanding.

‘I thought the back four was outstanding, Josip Juranovic was incredible. The whole team worked hard.’

Without a win against Rangers in their last seven meetings, the return of McGregor to midfield proved critical

‘The fact that he even played tonight, he is the kind of leader people follow.

‘It is a credit to him, he never ruled himself out from the first day, he knew how important this game.

‘We have significant absences. he trained yesterday and we had a chat with him and he as going to play.

‘He said I am going to play, I am fine, no problems. A lot of players wouldn’t have.’

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