So the Scottish Premier League is all over. Well, maybe it is, maybe Celtic will go on to claim the title next May. They are, after all, still seven points ahead of Hibernian and 12 in front of their old foe Rangers.
But what happened here yesterday was a dramatic, emphatic reminder that assumptions are a devalued currency in football. To win the league you have to enforce your superiority. Beginning at Easter Road on Wednesday night, Celtic must re-state what was a previously compelling case to be a club rejuvenated under Martin O'Neill.
That was the scale of this defeat, Celtic's first in the league under O'Neill. They have not won at Ibrox since August 1994. Another loss in midweek and Celtic's legendary caution could be on the verge of a fresh outbreak.
Not that they have any conspiracy to moan about here. Celtic lost because of themselves. With the game poised at 1-1, a fair reflection of play, Celtic failed to mark Jorg Albertz at the far post on a Ronald de Boer corner. Albertz's firm header cannoned off the crossbar and the man signed for £12 million from Chelsea on Thursday, Tore Andre Flo, reacted first to back-heel the ball high into the roof of Rab Douglas's net.
It was a quick return on a heavy investment. An hour had gone. Four minutes later Alan Thompson marked his debut Old Firm derby with a red card after a second reckless lunge at Barry Ferguson. Referee Kenny Clark had no choice but to send the former Aston Villa player off.
Two minutes after that Douglas made a good save from Flo, but from the resulting corner De Boer, unmarked and again at the far post, rose to head Albertz's skimming cross past the static Celtic keeper. In six minutes the score had gone from parity to 3-1 and Celtic had been reduced to 10 men.
In the 75th minute, Lorenzo Amoruso headed in a third corner to make it 4-1 and five minutes from the end Michael Mols ended a beautiful 70-yard Rangers move, featuring De Boer, Albertz and the impressive Claudio Reyna, to leave Rangers with the same margin of victory as Celtic had at Parkhead in August.
Celtic have sold a lot of souvenir videos of that match and Dick Advocaat, under huge pressure before yesterday, was able to comment afterwards: "I was hoping for more goals so that we could make a videotape as well.
"It's a great result. I'm very happy, great commitment from the team. I said a couple of weeks ago that if everybody is fit at this club we can beat anybody."
As well as delighting Advocaat, the result may also prove worthwhile to O'Neill. The turnaround he has instigated has been remarkable, but the end of the 16-game unbeaten run should focus minds on the relative shallowness of Celtic's squad. Chris Sutton, who has not trained for a month, struggled throughout, and when he came off near the end was replaced by Tommy Johnson. Rangers, by contrast, had been able to introduce Mols for Kenny Miller.
"I'm always looking for re-enforcements," said O'Neill. "Rangers have a very strong side, I've said it ad nauseum. Sutton played because we want all our influential players on the park. We don't really have a big enough squad."
O'Neill had no complaints about the result or Thompson's dismissal. He knew, too, that it could have been much worse. Only 100 seconds had gone when Flo was put through by Reyna's incisive pass. The Norwegian was about to get his first touch in Scottish football. Douglas came off his line, Flo chipped him but the ball went wide.
Just two minutes later Douglas got himself in a flap with Johan Mjallby leaving De Boer with an open goal. Falling backwards, De Boer scooped the ball over the bar. At Parkhead, Celtic had managed to take two opportunities in the first five minutes and Advocaat must have had bad thoughts about Rangers' wastefulness.
Predictably, the match settled down into its usual helter-skelter after that. At times it was like a game of playground tig but the one player capable of finding space away from the bedlam was the Rangers captain, Ferguson.
To add to the Rangers misses, Joos Valgaeren skewed a decent chance astray in the 17th minute, but when Ferguson was released skillfully by Reyna 10 minutes before half-time, he surged into the Celtic area and placed the ball past Douglas into the bottom corner. A cool moment amidst the heat. O'Neill was sceptical about the position from which the freekick that initiated the goal was taken.
When Henrik Larsson got the better of Amoruso to head in an equaliser from Thompson's corner 11 minutes after the interval, Celtic seemed comfortable. But then Thompson bit again, Celtic started watching corners and suddenly the run was over.
"Let's get it started again," said O'Neill.
"Let's hope they get shaky," said De Boer.
Rangers: Klos, Konterman, Wilson, Amoruso, Reyna, de Boer (Tugay 86), Ferguson, Albertz, Numan, Miller (Mols 60), Flo (McCann 86). Subs Not Used: Christensen, Ross. Booked: Reyna, Wilson, Amoruso. Goals: Ferguson 34, Flo 60, de Boer 68, Amoruso 76, Mols 85.
Celtic: Douglas, Boyd, Valgaeren, Mjallby (Mahe 46), Agathe, Thompson, Petrov, Moravcik (McNamara 46), Petta, Larsson, Sutton (Johnson 86). Subs Not Used: Gould, Healy. Sent Off: Thompson (64). Booked: Valgaeren, Thompson, Sutton, McNamara. Goals: Larsson 56. Att: 50,083.
Referee: K Clark (Scotland).
