Celtic wasted an opportunity to hand Rangers their first Scottish Premiership defeat this season as the champions hit back to draw 1-1 in Sunday’s Old Firm derby. Having wrapped up the title with weeks to spare, the Rangers are attempting to go through the entire campaign without a league loss.
Steven Gerrard’s side were facing Celtic for the first time since shattering their Glasgow rivals’ bid to win 10 successive Scottish Premiership titles.
Rangers fell behind to Mohamed Elyounoussi’s close-range header from Odsonne Edouard’s cross in the 23rd minute at Parkhead.
But Alfredo Morelos headed the equaliser after Leon Balogun flicked on Borna Barisic’s corner in the 38th minute.
It was the first goal in 13 Old Firm derbies for Colombian striker Morelos.
Ryan Kent nearly won it for the Rangers in the final minutes when his superb strike for a tight angle was pushed away by Scott Bain.
But neither team deserved to win a tight encounter as the Rangers extended their unbeaten streak to 33 league matches.
Rangers are 20 points clear of second-placed Celtic, who have faced their hated neighbours three times in the league this term, with one more derby left to inflict a first defeat.
The Ibrox outfit can no longer match Celtic’s 106-point haul from their unbeaten season in 2016-17.
Both sets of players opted not to take the knee before kick-off and instead stood together against racism.
The move was prompted after Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara was allegedly racially abused by Slavia Prague’s Ondrej Kudela as Gerrard’s men lost Thursday’s Europa League last-16 second leg.
Celtic captain Scott Brown also spoke to Kamara as the teams were warming up to offer his support.