Aston Villa hero stunned by Celtic vs Rangers experience + reveals chance meeting with Villans star post-derby

Rangers fans have been left with a sinking feeling - but Gabriel Agbonlahor insists he loved his first Celtic Park derby experience.

The Aston Villa hero was in attendance on Sunday as Brendan Rodgers’ side steamrolled their rivals 3-0. It’s sparked soul searching within Rangers ranks but from the stands, Agbonlahor enjoyed his day out.

With Aston Villa set to face Celtic in the Champions League this season, Agbonlahor got a first-hand look at the Hoops, and sensed an inevitability about the result which he thinks Rangers fans will struggle to stomach. He told talkSPORT: "I've watched a lot of Old Firm games and when you watch them you, you are like 'oh it could have went either way, it is close or there was tackles going in'.

“I am not one to go into someone, but I played in a lot of derby games and if I am a Rangers fans I am probably looking at it like 'they may be better than you, but put a tackle in. At least kick someone.'

"It was that one-sided and the feeling in the stadium from the Celtic fans was like 'why haven't we scored yet?' after 10 minutes. The goal gets disallowed allowed and it was 'don't worry we will score again soon'. It had that feeling that 'we are going to beat these comfortably'. That must be hard to take for any Rangers fans.”

On the day, Agbonlahor revealed he also bumped into boyhood Celtic fan, Aston Villa captain and Scotland star John McGinn at the hotel. He added: "Honestly I loved it. I went with my girlfriend and everybody was so friendly.

“It makes a change. Everyone is friendly up there and having some good talks about football. I stayed where the Scotland players stay so when I was leaving I spoke to John McGinn and Aston Villa's set piece coach, having a bit of banter. I loved it, I met a lot of Celtic and Rangers fans and had some banter with them as well. I really enjoyed it.”