Celtic Park horror show for Rangers man sets a new Scottish Premiership low

Nothing quite sums up what the pressure and intensity of a fired-up Celtic Park can do to a player like John Lundstram’s meltdown on Saturday.

The Rangers midfielder suffered a horror show up against the Bhoys midfield, producing a performance that is up there with some of the worst this derby has witnessed.

Lundstram scored an own goal with a poor intervention on Daizen Maeda’s fierce low cross to send Celtic 2-0 up in the Game.

Then, just a few minutes later he flew in studs up on Alistair Johnston’s ankle to receive a straight red card from referee Willie Collum after a review of video footage.

The display has been much discussed in the aftermath of the eventual 2-1 Celtic victory with many considering his dismissal a pivotal moment in the match – including Philippe Clement.

No one has performed worse in the Premiership this season

As pointed out by stat-trackers WhoScored, Lundstram’s performance was actually the lowest-rated in the Scottish Premiership across the entire 2023/24 campaign so far.

They made clear just how awful he was with a social media post to their nearly one million followers.

Despite all the bluster and talk of Rangers being ‘gladiators’ at Celtic Park, they in fact couldn’t cope with the intense environment of the derby again.

Callum McGregor cruises through another Rangers game

Celtic captain Callum McGregor, in contrast, was superb. Kenny Dalglish said he ‘controlled the flow of the Game’ in his analysis of the 90 minutes and that’s a spot-on verdict.

McGregor has had injury and fitness issues over the last couple of months but the staff deserve credit for getting him back to his best just in time for the biggest match of the season.

He earned an 8.5 rating from FotMob for his efforts, the highest rated on the pitch. Not only did he impact the Game in the attacking third with an assist and four chances created but completed ten defensive actions and won seven of his ten duels.

It was an all-action performance that Lundstram could only dream about and an indicator of why Celtic are heading towards another league title.