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Celtic v Rangers: Scottish Premiership – live | Scottish Premiership
Key events
39 min: Johnston goes in the book for Celtic after a rash sliding tackle on Moore on halfway. He gets the ball but catches Moore on the follow-through.
37 min: Tavernier lines up another long throw which Johnston doesn’t take any chances with and nods behind for a corner. Tavernier wastes the corner, sending it floating out for a goal-kick.
35 min: Celtic struggle to clear after a Tavernier long throw. When a cross comes into the six-yard box Trusty does extremely well to head clear under pressure. He takes a whack for his troubles but is OK.
33 min: Barron doesn’t thank Chukwuani for a chest-height pass in the middle of the park that he fails to control. Chukwuani comes in to help out and fouls his man but escapes a booking. Bit scrappy.
31 min: Tierney clips a ball towards the back post but Rommens is there to clear away. Nygren can’t find space for a proper shot at goal on the turn and Butland gathers.
29 min: Fernandez does brilliantly for Rangers to get back to stop McCowan, just as multiple Celtic players were bearing down on goal.
28 min: Nervy moments for Celtic! Rommens sends Moore down the left and the youngster’s low cross is sliced just past his own top corner by Scales. Moore loses the ball on the edge of the box after the corner and Celtic break at speed …
26 min: That’s got the home crowd going again! Engels tries to thread a ball through for Maeda running between the Rangers centre-backs but Fernandez is there to step in.
There’s a VAR check for offside with a couple of Celtic players in the six-yard box as Yang’s shot comes in … the goal stands!
GOAL! Celtic 1-1 Rangers (Yang 23)
Celtic level it up – McCowan is at the heart of it! It’s a brilliant reverse ball into Engels, who cuts the ball back for Yang in the middle to convert!
22 min: McCowan is struggling a bit on the right for Celtic. He was dispossessed for Moore’s goal and now dallies on the ball in the Rangers penalty area. When the cross does come in from the other flank Nygren can’t direct his header on target.
2o min: Referee Nick Walsh delves into his pocket for the first time to show a yellow card to Chermiti for a late lunge on Engels. It’s not been the striker’s first foul. Engels then bumps Chukwuani to the floor off the ball.
18 min: Maeda shoots wide! Yang feeds a ball through for the Japan international to chase. He leaves Djiga on the deck, opens his body up but rolls the ball just wide of the far post. It’s all happening.
16 min: Trusty is all at sea again when trying to deal with Chermiti, who takes down a long ball and leaves the Celtic defender on his backside. His teammates come to his rescue but Rangers win a corner. Fernandez has a free header but shoulders it wide, with the referee blowing for a foul.
14 min: Rangers threaten again! Tavernier picks out Chermiti, who holds off Trusty in the area and has a shot saved by Sinisalo. The rebound falls to Moore, whose shot is blocked as the whistle goes for handball by Chermiti.
13 min: It’s the away end making most of the noise around Parkhead now. There are some nervous groans as Rangers are allowed to progress to the edge of the area again until Antman’s ball into the box is cut out.
11 min: How do Celtic respond? Maeda leads the charge down the right channel and his cut-back is cleared by Barron.
GOAL! Celtic 0-1 Rangers (Moore 10)
The visitors strike first in the Old Firm! McCowan is pushed off the ball by Fernandez in the Celtic half. Chermiti has a toed shot blocked by Scales but the ball falls to Moore and he slots home!
Photograph: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock
8 min: Yang combines with Tierney down Celtic’s left but the full-back’s cross is deflected into the hands of Butland. It’s been a typically frantic start.
6 min: Full-backs Tierney and Johnston are already having an impact in the final third for Celtic. McGregor and Yang get the crowd up with some rough tackles in the Rangers half.
4 min: After Engels tests Butland from range, Rangers break with Moore. When the ball gets to Chermiti he sets aim for the far corner and pulls his shot just wide of the post. Big chance!
2 min: A couple of nervy early touches from both teams give way to some controlled Celtic possession around the halfway line until Moore forces Johnston to run it out of play.
Kick-off
“We’ll fight it out until the end,” reads a banner among the Green Brigade in the north curve of Celtic Park. You’ll never walk alone rings out.
Rangers’ Connor Barron gets us going.
The experienced armbanded duo of Callum McGregor and James Tavernier lead their teams out. Let’s get ready to rumble …
In his pre-match TV interview Danny Röhl says Rangers must “play the perfect game” in order to make it three wins from their last three visits to Parkhead. Martin O’Neill meanwhile says Celtic must beware of their opponents “because they will come here and play with freedom”.
Those green seats around Celtic Park are filling up nicely with around 10 minutes until we get under way.
Old Firm head-to-head this season: Celtic haven’t won any of their three Premiership games against Rangers in 2025-26 – Martin O’Neill is unbeaten in all competitions though across his two stints in charge.
Scottish Premiership
Rangers 0-0 Celtic
Celtic 1-3 Rangers
Rangers 2-2 Celtic
Scottish Cup
Quarter-final: Rangers 0-0 Celtic (2-4 pens)
League Cup
Semi-final: Celtic 3-1 Rangers
Martin O’Neill has admitted this season has been “a big, big change” for Celtic having to contend with not just Rangers but Hearts in the defence of their title.
It’s not a position that the football club has found itself in in recent years. Generally speaking, they’ve gone clear and there’s been no opposition.
There’s been plenty of opposition this year, not just from Rangers but obviously from Hearts.
So it is a big, big change, not something that a number of these players have been used to. You have to get used to it. You’ve been chasing, you have to keep chasing.
O’Neill’s side have won six of their last seven in the Premiership – with a defeat at Aberdeen their only blip on that run. Three more wins now would seal the title.
The games that we’ve had have been difficult. So I’ve not tried to analyse that much about it. We’ve got over the line.
I think the Old Firm game looks after itself. The players have, since Tannadice, had some time to reflect because of the international break.
We got back to Dundee, got the late winner, and it’s gone from there. We’ve had moments where we’ve had to fight through things, but we’ve seen it through so far. Sunday is a massive test for us.
Danny Röhl has said this week that he is fully committed to the Rangers job heading into next season after rumours of a return to his native Germany. He is under pressure at Ibrox in any case because of Rangers’ tendency to fall short across the competitions this campaign.
Röhl has been speaking this week about trying to develop a winning mentality at Rangers:
Fully, fully committed. I feel the support every day. I feel the conversations we had. We spoke so much about what we want to change for the summer.
All in all, I feel that I’m in the right place with the right people with a lot of motivation, positive energy to bring this club not just to a one-hit wonder, back to a consistent club who can win titles in a row.
This is also important to understand. A one-hit wonder for us, it’s nice, but what we are looking for is that you consistently play for the title. And this is my job, this is our job, and this is why I’m looking forward.
Starting lineups: Raskin misses out
Celtic Sinisalo; Johnston, Trusty, Scales, Tierney; McGregor, Engels, Nygren; Yang, Maeda, McCowan
Subs: Doohan, Iheanacho, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tounekti, Sarrachi, Hatate, Murray, Forrest, Ralston
Luke McCowan gets the nod ahead of Sebastian Tounetki in Celtic’s front three.
Rangers Butland; Tavernier, Fernandez, Djiga, Rommens; Barron, Chukwuani, Diomande; Antman, Chermiti, Moore
Subs: Kelly, Sterling, Aarons, Meghoma, Aasgard, Gassama, Bajrami, Miovski, Skov Olsen
Nicolas Raskin misses out entirely with a muscle injury and Connor Barron gets his first start since January.
The context: An Old Firm this late in the season often has the air of a title decider but this season has been different. Hearts, looking to become the first team to break the Celtic-Rangers duopoly for 41 years, lead the Premiership by four points with two games remaining. However the pressure appears to be showing a tad, with Derek McInnes’s side dropping points in a 1-1 draw at Motherwell last night. Hearts were left furious after not being awarded a second-half penalty.
That gives both Celtic and Rangers a chance today, with both teams having this game in hand on the leaders. Celtic are four points back and know they will be champions if they win their last three games – they host Hearts on the final day in a potential all-or-nothing game. After a tumultuous season that has included fan unrest, the disastrous tenure of Wilfried Nancy and a shabby Old Firm record in the league, the title would be some tonic for Martin O’Neill’s side.
As for Rangers, they thought their title hopes were over after defeat to Hearts at Tynecastle last Monday left them eight points back. It is still mathematically possible to overhaul that gap now but Danny Röhl’s side will have to win their last three games and pray (very hard) other results go their way. If the title seems an unrealistic aim then stopping Celtic will at least provide plenty of motivation today.
Preamble
Hello and welcome. The door is ajar in the Scottish Premiership title race. After Hearts’ draw with Motherwell last night, Celtic know that if they win their final three fixtures – starting with the Old Firm today – then they will be champions (bear in mind they host Hearts on the final day next weekend). Rangers also turn up at Parkhead this lunchtime with a spring in their step, with their (very) faint hopes of the title still alive, not to mention the opportunity to set fire to Celtic’s bid.
I’ll bring you buildup and team news before kick-off at noon (BST), then minute-by-minute updates from this, perhaps the, decisive match in the Premiership season. I’d love to hear your thoughts via email, whether you’re Celtic, Rangers, Hearts or a neutral.
The stakes are sky-high and the atmosphere at Celtic Park will be one of a kind. Bring it on.
Was the prime minister’s speech enough to avert a challenge to his leadership less than two years after he won a landslide general election victory?
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UK government borrowing costs rise as Starmer ‘fails to reassure bond markets’ – business live | Business
Keir Starmer’s speech ‘fails to reassure bond markets’ as yields rise higher
UK government borrowing costs are creeping a little higher after a morning of rising political jitters.
The yield, or interest rate, on UK 30-year bonds is now up 8 basis points (0.08 of a percentage point) at 5.65%, up from 5.57% on Friday night. That’s higher than just before Keir Starmer’s speech this morning, when they were up about 5bps.
Benchmark 10-year bond yields have risen higher too – now up 6bps, having been 4bps higher earlier in the morning.
Rising bond yields indicate that bond prices have dropped, suggesting less appetite for UK debt and pushing up the cost of borrowing.
These increases comes as Labour MP, David Smith, has said Starmer should set a timetable for his departure and that the government neeed “to act faster, and be more radical”.
Update: Labour MP Catherine West, who announced a challenge to Starmer over the weekend, has now said she wants the prime minister to set a timetable of September for an orderly departure.
Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, says there are concerns in the bond markets that a change of Prime Minister would prompt wider turmoil at the top of government, and less focus on fiscal rules.
Streeter writes:
“Keir Starmer’s address to the nation hasn’t done the trick of calming bond markets. There is still a sense of jitters playing out as concerns about political instability collide with inflationary fears prompted by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. His speech was designed to project a ‘keep calm and carry on’ message, but the worry is that it lacks the real substance needed to keep Labour MPs on side.
Ten-year gilt yields have crept higher, nudging 5% once more, while longer-dated government debt remains hovering above 5.6%. They have not been at this level for a sustained period since the late 1990s.
Key events
Enrique Díaz-Alvarez, chief economist at global financial services firm Ebury, argues that the pound has weathered the results of the May local elections in the UK remarkably well.
With sterling down just 0.2% so far today, Díaz-Alvarez argues that the Labour bloodbath was roundly expected and priced in by markets, adding:
“Investors are betting that Labour’s overwhelming defeat will not end Starmer’s premiership just yet, but pressure on the prime minister looks set to intensify in the coming days, with a number of backbenchers already calling for his resignation.
“As this is written, no potential rivals on his left have launched a formal bid to replace him, although there are murmurs that the likes of Rayner and Streeting are privately weighing their options.
“A potential lurch to the left is what markets fear most, as this could mean higher taxes, heavier gilt issuance and a broader fiscal risk premium baked into UK assets.
Shorter-dated UK government bonds, which are more sensitive to short-term inflation risks, are also weakening today.
This has pushed up the yields on two-year, and five-year, gilts by around 8bps today – bigger rises than for US shorter-dated bonds.
And still UK bond yields creep higher.
The 30-year bond yield is now up 9.3 basis points (0.093 of a percentage point), to 5.67%.
That takes it nearer to the 28-year high of 5.78% hit last week, amid uncertainty about the future of Keir Starmer’s government.
Keir Starmer’s speech ‘fails to reassure bond markets’ as yields rise higher
UK government borrowing costs are creeping a little higher after a morning of rising political jitters.
The yield, or interest rate, on UK 30-year bonds is now up 8 basis points (0.08 of a percentage point) at 5.65%, up from 5.57% on Friday night. That’s higher than just before Keir Starmer’s speech this morning, when they were up about 5bps.
Benchmark 10-year bond yields have risen higher too – now up 6bps, having been 4bps higher earlier in the morning.
Rising bond yields indicate that bond prices have dropped, suggesting less appetite for UK debt and pushing up the cost of borrowing.
These increases comes as Labour MP, David Smith, has said Starmer should set a timetable for his departure and that the government neeed “to act faster, and be more radical”.
Update: Labour MP Catherine West, who announced a challenge to Starmer over the weekend, has now said she wants the prime minister to set a timetable of September for an orderly departure.
Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, says there are concerns in the bond markets that a change of Prime Minister would prompt wider turmoil at the top of government, and less focus on fiscal rules.
Streeter writes:
“Keir Starmer’s address to the nation hasn’t done the trick of calming bond markets. There is still a sense of jitters playing out as concerns about political instability collide with inflationary fears prompted by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. His speech was designed to project a ‘keep calm and carry on’ message, but the worry is that it lacks the real substance needed to keep Labour MPs on side.
Ten-year gilt yields have crept higher, nudging 5% once more, while longer-dated government debt remains hovering above 5.6%. They have not been at this level for a sustained period since the late 1990s.
Mobile users cry foul over price rises
Mark Sweney
The telecoms regulator has received more than 100,000 complaints from O2 and Sky mobile customers angry over the introduction of surprise price rises.
Ofcom said that the issue of mid-contract price rises foisted on mobile customers, which has resulted in an exodus of customers and provoked an angry response from the government, fuelled the first quarterly increase in complaints about services by the UK’s major telecoms companies for two-and-a-half years.
Complaints about O2, the UK’s second biggest mobile operator with 12.5m consumer customers, more than tripled quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of the year.
The company, which is owned by Virgin Media O2, faced a backlash in October when it announced that mobile bills would rise by £2.50 a month for all customers, the equivalent of £30 a year, from last month.
This is 70p, or 40%, more than the £1.80 increase customers were informed of when they initially signed up to their contracts.
Ofcom said that the rate of complaints about O2 soared from just two per 1,000 customers in the fourth quarter last year to seven per 1,000 customers in the first three months this year.
This works out to almost 87,000 complaints, based on O2’s consumer customer base, and made the mobile network the most-complained about by some distance in Ofcom’s report.
The average across the seven mobile operators tracked by Ofcom was a complaint level of three per 1,000 customers.
The move by O2 sparked a rebuke from the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and Liz Kendall, the technology secretary.
A customer backlash saw O2 lose 165,000 customers in the fourth quarter last year, with the company attributing about 110,000 of those directly to price increases.
Complaints to Ofcom about Sky Mobile, which is estimated to have almost 4m customers, almost doubled in the latest quarterly report.
Sky received five complaints per 1,000 customers, up from three per 1,000 in the fourth quarter, which works out to almost 20,000 complaints to Ofcom.
At the beginning of the year Sky announced that most of its mobile customers would see their monthly bill increase by £1.50, an annual increase of £18 a year, with the price rise coming in to force from Valentine’s Day.
The company said that it was the first mid-contract price rise it had implemented for mobile customers in more than seven years.
Last January, Ofcom introduced new rules banning mid-contract price rises linked to inflation, and said that telecoms companies must tell customers up front in “pounds and pence” about any future price rises.
“It is disappointing to see an increase in customers complaints during this quarter, especially following a sustained period of decreases in the complaints we received about telecoms companies,” said Cristina Luna-Esteban, Ofcom’s director of consumers and retail markets. “However, a main driver of these complaints appears to be unexpected mid-contract price rise announcements for some mobile customers in the Autumn of 2025.”
XTB: Bond market calm after ‘no knockout blow’ against Starmer
The UK bond market is “relatively stable” after Keir Starmer came out fighting this morning, reports Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.
She explains:
Although the PM faced challenges to his leadership over the weekend, there has been no knockout blow, and so far on Monday, the markets are calm, yields are moderately higher, and the pound remain above $1.36, even though the dollar is higher on a broad basis today.
For now, it looks like the market is not taking Angela Rayner’s proposal for how to reinvigorate the economy and Labour’s chances seriously. She doesn’t seem to grasp policy trade-offs, for example, she says that creating jobs for young people can go hand in hand with a higher minimum wage. Although the polls give a damning verdict on this government’s track record so far, the markets are clearly willing to ignore the internal fighting going on in the Labour party this week.
The relatively mild reaction in the bond market, 10-year Gilt yields are higher by 4bps, and it remains below 5%, suggests that traders do not believe that the threat to Keir Starmer will materialise. It would need a bigger blow to send yields higher, at this stage. If Starmer can get over this challenge, then the focus will go back to the data: can the economy grow, and can the public debt remain stable? If those things change, potentially because of a new leader, then the Gilt market will react.
There’s little reaction in the bond markets to Keir Starmer’s make-or-break speech, in which he pledged to fight any challenge to his leadership, and promised a new direction on Europe.
The yield, or interest rate, on 30-year UK bonds is now up around 6.7 basis points, up from 5.6bps at the start of the speech.
Ten-year bond yields are up 5bps, up from 4.3% before Starmer took to the lecturn.
These moves shows that bond prices slipped slightly during the speech, with borrowing costs still higher on the day.
E.ON acquires British energy supplier OVO
In the energy world, Germany’s E.On has agreed to buy rival Ovo to create one of Britain’s largest suppliers.
The deal brings together two of the UK’s larger energy suppliers.
In the UK, E.On serves nearly one in seven households and businesses, while Ovo has four million home energy customers.
E.On says existing tariffs will be honoured, and service will continue unchanged.
Chris Norbury, CEO of E.ON UK, says the deal will create a retailer with the capability, the technology and the customer base to make “new energy work for everyone”.
Norbury explains:
“For decades the UK energy system focused too much on those upstream. Now is our opportunity to change that. Solar, batteries, EVs and a retailer built to orchestrate. That is what this deal is about: customers in control and new energy that works for everyone.”
Chris Houghton, CEO of OVO, says:
“The energy market has fundamentally changed in recent years. OVO was founded to challenge the status quo, and we’ve built a strong retail business focused on delivering for customers and supporting the transition to cleaner energy.
“As the market has evolved, scale and access to significant long-term capital for the energy transition have become non-negotiable. Following a thorough review, we believe this decision gives the business the strongest footing for the future.
The GMB union have welcomed Keir Starmer’s decision to nationalise British Steel from its Chines owners, Jingye.
Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, GMB National Secretary, said:
“Unions have long known Jingye will not negotiate in good faith.
“This legislation will cover the whole steel industry – it isn’t specifically for British Steel but it is what will protect it from foreign owners.
“British Steel is a nationally strategic asset, it is right the Government does everything in its power to secure its long term future.
“GMB welcomes this decisive and timely intervention by the Government which will protect one of the UK’s most important industries.”
Starmer confirms nationalisation of British Steel
During his leadership reset speech, Keir Starmer has confirmed that the government will nationalise British Steel.
The PM describes steel as “the ultimate sovereign capability”, arging that strong nations in today’s world need to make steel.
And he declares:
I can announce that legislation will be brought forward this week to give the government powers [subject to a public interest test], to take full national ownership of British Steel.
‘This week’ suggests it will be part of the new legislative programme laid out in the king’s speech on Wednesday.
British Steel employs 3,500 people at its plant in Scunthorpe, and came under government control last April amid fears that its owner, Jingye, was planning to shut down the site.
Bank of England policymaker Megan Greene has said it is worth waiting “a little while” to see how the Iran war unfolds before deciding whether to raise interest rates.
Greene, one of the more hawkish members of the Bank’s monetary policy committee, has told Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast that the UK faces ‘upside’ risks on the outlook for inflation.
But, she suggests, it is better not to rush a decision on raising rates, until the ‘progression’ of the war is clearer.
She says:
“It’s worth waiting for a little while to see what happens with the progression of this war and therefore see what we can infer about how it will propagate through the economy before we make a move.”
“We’ve now had a negative supply shock, an energy shock, and that stands to push inflation up and growth down, which is a terrible situation for a central banker to be in.”
Keir Starmer is about to give a crunch speech, as pressure on the PM rises – my colleague Andrew Sparrow will be live-blogging it here:
European stock markets are broadly lower in early trading, as the deadlock over the Middle East conflict worries investors.
France’s CAC 40 index is down 0.75%, while Germany’s DAX has lost 0.2%.
In London, though, the FTSE 100 is up 29 points or 0.3%, with banks and oil companies among the risers.
A precise figure of how much full nationalisation of British Steel could cost has not been announced and it is understood that following legislation an independent valuation would be carried out of the business, to see what, if any, compensation might be due to Jingye.
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