Rangers headed to Celtic Park knowing this match was their last hope of keeping already faint title hopes alive but a crushing 3-2 defeat ensured they slipped 12 points behind the league leaders with seven games remaining.
Devoid of away supporters inside the stadium, Michael Beale’s men performably admirably in front of a raucous 60,000 home crowd with skipper James Tavernier netting a double, including his 100th goal for the club.
However, it wasn’t enough to prevent the Hoops from moving within touching distance of retaining the Scottish Premiership title, with Kyogo Furuhashi and Jota capitalise on two costly defensive errors to edge a five-goal thriller.
Rangers were architects of their own downfall on this visit to Glasgow’s East End and with their title hopes all-but extinguished due to Celtic’s vastly superior goal difference, they must now lift themselves ahead of the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park later this month.
Here, GlasgowWorld rates how the Rangers’ players performed....
UNUSED: Jon McLaughlin GK), Ridvan Yilmaz, Ianis Hagi, Glen Kamara, Scott Arfield
5. Borna Barisic - 6
Had struggled in previous derbies but the Croatian performed reasonably well on this occasion. Brilliant goal line clearance to deny Kyogo before offside flag was raised and sent a dangerous cross over to Tavernier who headed wide at 3-2. Blazed a free-kick over with the final kick of the match. Photo: Rob Casey - SNS Group
6. Ryan Jack - 6
Didn’t do anything of real note but kept things simple in the middle of the park. | Getty Images
7. Nicolas Raskin - 7
A good display from the Belgian following a three-week injury lay-off and always looked to play the ball forward and find team mates in an advanced position. Booked. | Getty Images
8. Todd Cantwell - 6
Robbed Taylor of possession in the opening stages and battled well but his influence faded somewhat after the break. Neat and tidy with the ball at his feet and hit the side-netting with a half-chance as Rangers applied some pressure. | Getty Images