Celtic lined up in a back three against Rangers at Celtic Park in the latest Old Firm derby, adding another tactical wrinkle to a fixture that already carries major Scottish Premiership weight. Last Sunday, Rangers beat Celtic 3-0 in the League Cup quarter-final, but this meeting had bigger league implications attached to it as well.
A Celtic win would move them eight clear at the top, while a Rangers victory would cut the gap to two. That made the team shapes even more important than usual, especially with no away supporters in the ground at Celtic Park, just as there were none at Ibrox last weekend.
What Celtic changed
The main talking point was Celtic's shape. Former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner said it was still hard to tell exactly how the setup was working, but he noted the structure was clear enough to see on the pitch. He pointed out that Donovan was on the right side and Tierney on the left, while Scales was almost out in the left-back position at times.
That gave Celtic a different look in possession and without the ball, but it also created questions about how the side would deal with Rangers' movement between the lines. Bonner said somebody had to pick up Kim, describing that as the problem at the moment. He also highlighted a Rangers move in which Nico Raskin glided forward and slipped in Djeidi Gassama, who ran inside Colby Donovan, although the winger's touch was not sharp enough and the chance disappeared.
Rangers stayed unchanged
Rangers were unchanged after Naderi passed fit, keeping their own approach steady for a match that Andy Halliday described as one of the most fascinating Old Firm fixtures he could remember for a long time, especially at Celtic Park. He added that predicting the shape or the outcome was almost impossible.
The early tone of the derby matched that feeling. Bonner referenced Camilo Duran leaving one on Nico Raskin from kick-off, and then Mika Baur getting stuck into Kim Minsu. It was a feisty start to a game with table implications, derby pressure and very little room for error.
For Celtic, the back three was the key adjustment. For Rangers, the priority was keeping their structure intact after the weekend's League Cup win and trying to repeat that result in a league setting. With the gap at the top hanging in the balance, the tactical choices mattered almost as much as the result itself.
