Baffled Kris Boyd launches madcap Rangers rationale for Celtic demolition as 'bullish' Brendan Rodgers called out
Baffled Kris Boyd reckons Rangers managed to channel their European showings as they smashed Celtic to close the gap at the top of the table.
Philippe Clement earned a massive victory over Brendan Rodgers as goals from Ianis Hagi, Robin Propper and Danilo cut Celtic's lead at the summit of Scottish Premiership to 11 points with the Belgian earning his first victory on derby day - despite being without defensive mainstays Jack Butland and James Tavernier. The Belgian has seen his Rangers side save some of their best performances of the campaign for Thursday night's in the Europa League - and Boyd joked that a touch of the magic was sprinkled through the derby day triumph.
He told Sky Sports: "I can enjoy tonight but then I think the reality will set in that you're still 11 points behind, but taking nothing away from Rangers I thought to a man they were excellent today. They asked players to come in, we said at the top of the show there might be an opportunity for players who hadn't been playing to come in and stake a claim - I thought Yilmaz was excellent, I thought Sterling and Propper played like proper defenders - alright they weren't asked a lot by Celtic - and Jefte was up and down all day.
"Raskin was outstanding, Cerny and Hagi with that little bit of quality. It's a good day for Rangers but you then think to yourself where has this team been? We have seen it in glimpses - but I suppose it is a Thursday..."
The defeat is only the second Old Firm defeat that Rodgers has suffered across his two spells at Celtic - and Boyd called out the Hoops' boss as he detected a hint of overconfidence from the boss in the build-up to the game. The Ibrox fan favourite went on: "Rangers can enjoy the performance today, they can enjoy the result, but the reality is you are still 11 points behind in the league.
"Celtic have done the work thorough a period of time and they are more consistent. Rangers need to get that level of consistency. Rangers have played well, won the game 3-0 and it should have been a lot more.
"But Brendan Rodgers, I thought he was a little bit bullish, thinking that it was going to be easy in his press conference and it has maybe come back to bite him. You just got the feeling it meant a lot more to Rangers."
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