McInnes silences Celtic in first Old Firm test

Old Firm games are supposed to be tight, tense, decided by a set-piece or a moment of individual brilliance that nobody saw coming. This one wasn't that. Rangers took Celtic apart, and by the time the final whistle went the scoreline read 3-0, a margin that flatters nobody except the team that put it there.

For Derek McInnes, this was the fixture that defines a Rangers manager's tenure whether he likes it or not. Win it and the doubters go quiet for a while. Lose it and every other result that week gets filtered through that one afternoon. McInnes now has his first win over Celtic since taking charge, and he has it by three clear goals in a cup quarter-final that sends his side straight into the semi-finals.

A statement, not a scare

Three goals against Celtic in any context buys a manager goodwill. Three goals against Celtic in an Old Firm derby, in a competitive cup tie with a semi-final on the line, buys a manager something closer to breathing room. According to Sky Sports, Rangers were the dominant side throughout, the kind of performance that doesn't need a last-minute winner to make headlines because the story was already written by full time.

Derby wins have a habit of getting remembered in isolation, stripped of context, filed away as pure emotion. This one will get filed differently. It's a first Old Firm win as manager, a clean sheet against the oldest rival in Scottish football, and a semi-final place secured in the same ninety minutes.

What it means for the rest of the run

Rangers now move on to the League Cup semi-final with the kind of confidence that a 3-0 Old Firm win tends to generate inside a dressing room. Celtic, by contrast, will have questions to answer before their next fixture, having been beaten comprehensively rather than narrowly, a distinction that matters in how a result gets talked about in Glasgow for the rest of the week.

For McInnes personally, the pressure that comes with any Rangers job gets lighter after a result like this, at least for now. Old Firm form doesn't guarantee anything down the line, but a manager who beats Celtic 3-0 in his first crack at the fixture has bought himself the kind of credit that isn't easily spent.