This seismic encounter at Parkhead stirred the blood and did not do the senses any favours. Celtic savaged Rangers amid a blistering atmosphere in Glasgow's east end, with a scoreline that Martin O'Neill, witnessing his first Old Firm encounter, could not even have dreamt about.
His team went a goal up inside 40 seconds and were three ahead within 11 minutes, and with Rangers haplessly panting in the second half Henrik Larsson speared the visitors with a goal that will live the memory. Parkhead, packed to its rafters with a crowd of 60,000, was roused by the spectacle.
Chris Sutton weighed in with a double to take his season's tally to five since his £6 million sterling transfer from Chelsea. The striker has responded to the raw environment of Glasgow by recovering the bullish methods and poacher's instinct that characterised his career at Norwich and Blackburn.
O'Neill described Sutton's performance as "top class" and added: "If Chris remains injury-free he'll prove a great Celtic player." But Sutton played down this resurrection in his career. "We mustn't get carried away," he said. "I was surprised by the pace of the game and still feel that I need to get sharper."
Rangers found themselves caught in a tornado. There were also flaws in their play which manager Dick Advocaat must have simmered over throughout. For a team of such strapping defenders it was extraordinary to see the aerial havoc that Celtic were allowed to wreak on the visitors. "The only good thing from our point of view is that we know what we have to change," said Advocaat ominously.
The game, predictably, had a combustible quality about it which never offered much hope of 22 players remaining on the field. In the 81st minute the Rangers midfielder Barry Ferguson paid for allowing his frustrations to boil over when he was red-carded by the referee Stuart Dougal for a second bookable offence.
At that point in this ragged classic, scything tackles were arriving from all points of the compass. Ferguson compounded his misery - and did not do much for the cause of ecumenism in this city - by offering what Glaswegians call "the vicky", or vsign, to a bank of Celtic fans serenading his trudge from the field.
"It was fantastic," said O'Neill, the Celtic manager still hyperventilating. "I can't think that you'll find a better atmosphere than that anywhere else in Europe. I didn't know where it was going to end. Even at 4-1 I was thinking there's still a long way to go. But our performance was immense."
The damage Sutton did to Rangers was immediate and brutal. The crowd had hardly settled in their seats before Lubomir Moravcik's inswinging corner arrived with venom in the Rangers box, scattering players in every direction.
Amid the mayhem, Larsson's shot was scuffed towards goal where Sutton, lurking in what appeared an offside position at the far post, stabbed it past Stefan Klos.
The Rangers goalkeeper was in for more of this unfamiliar treatment. Moravcik sent over another delicious corner, which Stilian Petrov threw himself at to score. Paul Lambert then met Moravcik's cut-back and slammed his side's third past the goalkeeper.
Claudio Reyna's header, which Jonathan Gould dragged over his own goalline, gave Rangers a lifeline but not for long, Larsson's glancing header snatching it away. And the goal that finally did for Rangers was sublime. After Gould's hoof upfield, Larsson collected the ball from Sutton's chest and drove at the Rangers centre-backs before scooping the ball over Klos from 15 yards.
Billy Dodds scored a penalty for Rangers after 55 minutes before Sutton grabbed Celtic's sixth at the end to help his side leapfrog Rangers into second place in the table. Hibernian, who beat St Mirren 2-0 on Saturday, are a point clear at the top.
O'Neill cast an eye to the winter battles to come, though, as he urged confidence but not complacency in his ranks.
He said: "The players are all delighted, but there is no feeling of euphoria because a few of them have been here a couple of years and they know not to get too carried away with anything.
"I'll be happy tonight and maybe tomorrow morning. But after that I will and the players will concentrate on the next game.
"The players have often been in the shadow of Rangers, so I don't think anyone is getting too excited about it. Most of the players are going away on international duty, and I just hope they come back unscathed."
But one player who could be missing out on international duty is Celtic midfielder Lambert, who was carried off during the first half.
CELTIC: Gould, Valgaeren, Stubbs, Mahe, McNamara, Petrov, Lambert (Mjallby 36), Moravcik (Boyd 54), Petta, Larsson (Burchill 87), Sutton. Subs Not Used: Kerr, Berkovic.
RANGERS: Klos, Ricksen (Tugay 22), Konterman, Amoruso, Vidmar (Kanchelskis 65), Reyna, Ferguson, van Bronckhorst, McCann (Lovenkranes 76), Dodds, Wallace. Subs Not Used: Charbonnier, Malcolm.
