Under-fire Philippe Clement says first Old Firm win was for Rangers not himself

Philippe Clement insists his long-awaited first win over Celtic was for his Rangers side and not for his own benefit.

The convincing 3-0 William Hill Premiership victory over their city rivals at Ibrox was the Belgian’s maiden Old Firm triumph in seven attempts since becoming Gers boss in October 2023 and it reduced the gap to the league leaders to 11 points.

Rangers had some key players missing including skipper James Tavernier, Leon Balogun and Jack Butland – Liam Kelly took over in goal for his first Old Firm game – but goals from Ianis Hagi, Robin Propper and substitute Danilo was the perfect response to last month’s Premier Sports Cup final penalty shoot-out defeat to Celtic.

However, Clement, under intense pressure in recent weeks as Rangers’ title hopes slipped away, was focused only on the team.

He said: “I’m pleased for the team, I told you guys (media) already a few times, I’m not here for myself.

“The only thing is that you guys don’t need to start anymore about never winning an Old Firm, so that’s done.

“So, very pleased that they (players) got the reward that they deserve. They didn’t get it in this League Cup final, and that was a harsh one.

“A cruel one, what we talked about. Today they got it. They didn’t get it, they grabbed it.

“And that’s what I want to see. So it was a well-deserved victory. It was a very strong collective victory with some players playing out of position also, but doing a very good job.

“Players stepping in who didn’t play so much. So I’m very pleased that everybody from the outside can see all the hard work that the players have been doing the last couple of months.”

Brendan Rodgers lost only his second Old Firm game in 21 matches over his two spells as Parkhead boss and his side’s disjointed display, especially in the first half, left him disappointed.

The Northern Irishman said: “I mentioned to the players that I didn’t think we could be any worse in the second half.

“(We were) a little bit better, but not much better.

“And I’ve got experience of coming from behind when we’ve been here, so I know we can do it.

“But we never really had that reaction today, I didn’t feel that.

“I didn’t think we were so aggressive and had that quality in our game. And that precision in our passing, in order to hurt them. So, probably over the course of the couple of spells, that performance certainly wasn’t up there.

“I can look at it from two perspectives. I can analyse the game today and see that we weren’t very good and the better team won.

“So, I can accept that. The bigger picture, we reached the halfway point in the season, 11 points clear, players have been absolutely first class up until this point in so many ways.

“And this setback today, from losing the game, you can learn from and be better for going forward.

“But, on the game, the best team won, deserved to win. For us, it’s the bigger picture and a great place in the league. And this is just a little reminder of the things it takes to win a game.”