Gerrard and Cantwell name their Rangers heroes as Ibrox VIPs burst with pride over Celtic pasting
They may still trail Celtic by 11 points at the Premiership summit - but Rangers' dominating display in the 3-0 victory against their arch rivals has sent a few shockwaves across the city.
Philippe Clement's team bossed the game from start to finish, and were more than worthy of the convincing scoreline. And while the Hoops were a shadow of the team that have taken the Premiership by storm so far this season, several Gers players were contenders for the man of the match award in the top-flight's most talked about fixture. So much so that it has made a couple of figures from the Ibrox club's recent past stand up and take notice.
Ianis Hagi opened the scoring on Thursday and was amongst the goals for Rangers for the first time since he was brought back into the fold by Clement after it had previously looked like his race in Govan was run. The Romania international won plaudits for his all action display and has now been singled out for praise by the man who brought him to Ibrox - Steven Gerrard.
The Liverpool legend initially snapped up the attacking midfielder on a six-month loan deal from Genk in January 2020 and was so impressed with Hagi that he pushed the club to fork out around £2.5million to sign the playmaker on a permanent basis. Hagi's best season so far for the Light Blues came in Rangers' title winning season in 2020/21 under Gerrard, where he bagged eight goals and 15 assists in 46 matches. And that fact has not been lost on the Anfield icon, who shared a photo of Hagi celebrating his goal against Celtic with the caption "Things you love to see."
Ex-Rangers duo Aaron Niguez and Madjid Bougherra were also snapped at Ibrox, and the love-in from former Gers stars in the wake of the Old Firm drubbing doesn't stop there. Todd Cantwell may have left Rangers in slightly acrimonious circumstances last summer, but the midfielder has once again moved to let Ibrox fans know that the club will forever be in his heart.
The Blackburn midfielder took to Instagram to share his reaction to Thursday's thumping victory against Celtic, posting a screenshot of himself watching substitute and ex team-mate Danilo embrace his team-mates after coming off the bench to round off the scoring The 26-year-old joined Rovers at the end of the summer transfer window after submitting a transfer request to Clement.
