Celtic's first victory in a new year's match for a decade ended one of the longest famines in history. Even the Biblical Egyptians got only seven years. The home support had to wait until Craig Burley's opening goal in the 67th minute before they could start feasting, but they finished up gorging themselves on Paul Lambert's thundering second four minutes from the end.
For most of the time before the goals, Celtic had exposed the limitations in Rangers' midfield - bewilderingly, the Ibrox manager, Walter Smith, left Paul Gascoigne on the bench - and Burley, Lambert and Morten Wieghorst enjoyed an unusual authority.
In the wider areas, Jackie McNamara on the right and Tom Boyd on the left for the home side carried much more menace than Rino Gattuso or Alex Cleland, their opposite numbers, and Gattuso's removal after an hour, to be replaced by Gordon Durie, seemed inevitable for a long time before.
In addition to an overall superiority in the forward areas, Celtic had Enrico Annoni sewn on to the shirt of Brian Laudrup, and the Italian gave an immaculate performance in taking the threat out of the Dane. Annoni's shepherding hardly gave Laudrup an opportunity to demonstrate his normal virtuosity and the marker finished up stepping in front of his adversary to cut off the supply of passes with utter conviction.
Rangers were able to call on all their heavy artillery for this third Old Firm match of the season, with Andy Goram and Richard Gough returning after two-match absences because of hamstring injuries.
And it was Goram who looked as if he would deny Celtic victory. As long as the Rangers goalkeeper is in the form he showed throughout this match, there remains a hope for the club's supporters that their team will escape unhurt. Goram prevented the home side from scoring several times before they actually did so.
He twice denied Harald Brattbakk, the Norwegian striker starting for Celtic for the first time since his £2.3 million move from Rosenborg four weeks ago. He also had an extraordinary save from Alan Stubbs, the big defender having sent a header hurtling towards the goalkeeper's top left-hand corner.
Brattbakk may have finished goalless, but he would have greatly encouraged the Celtic fans with his intelligent, incisive running and his ability to find space in crowded areas. It was from such a manoeuvre that he received Boyd's pass after the latter had broken powerfully out of defence and slotted the ball down the inside-left channel and into the penalty box. Goram was out of the blocks at the same time as Brattbakk, however, and made a terrific block as the Norwegian drove the ball cleanly with his left foot.
Brattbakk will be regarded now as a talisman by the home support and seems likely to prove a profitable purchase.
Wim Jansen only told him a couple of hours before the kick-off that he was in the side as the manager changed tactics for this his third encounter against Rangers. Regi Blinker was dropped as Celtic reverted to just two up front in a 35-2 formation - Brattbakk forming an instantly potent partnership with the lively Henrik Larsson.
The dreadlocked Dane was out to prove that there was more to his game than fancy flicks and soft touches as he added tenacious tackling and determined running to his armoury. Larsson came of age in Celtic's colours in one cameo early in the second half: A 50-50 ball between teak-tough defender Gough and the hitherto `lightweight' ended with Gough hitting the deck after what appeared to be a fair shoulder. The referee thought otherwise and blew for a free-kick as Larsson skipped away with the ball, but nevertheless Larsson had shown the determination and will to win which ran throughout this Celtic side.
Perhaps it was these traits which unsettled Rangers, for they were strangely unthreatening, even during those early periods when an apparently careful Celtic team were allowing them to move forward.
In the entire 90 minutes, the home goalkeeper, Jonathan Gould, did not have a save to make. The mystery of Gascoigne's omission was hardly solved when Smith was asked afterwards why he had left it until so late to put him on the field. "I don't think it really mattered when he came on," said Smith. "Celtic were so dominant in the match that no one player could have stemmed the tide."
This does not square with Gascoigne's history of contributions in the fixture. There have been several occasions when a moment of the England midfielder's incomparable talent has swung the match the way of the champions. By the time he did replace Jorg Albertz, Celtic were in front by virtue of a beautifully worked and executed goal.
McNamara did the construction, feinting past three opponents on the right before delivering a reverse pass to Burley. The midfielder, unchallenged, was deliberate and convinced as he rifled his low, right-foot shot past Goram.
Burley is proving himself utterly reliable when given that kind of opportunity and this was his 10th goal of the season. The one that ensured the victory that would take Celtic to within one point of Rangers at the top of the Premier Division was Lambert's first since his £2 million transfer from Borussia Dortmund. Moving on to the loose ball following an attack some 25 yards from goal, Lambert drop-volleyed into Goram's top left-hand corner. "I knew when I hit it, it was good," he said. So did the majority of the capacity crowd, who left intoxicated without touching a drop of the happy juice.
The result was a marvellous boost for head coach Jansen, in his first season at the club. He has already seen his team lift the Scottish League Cup and now they are firmly on course to deny Rangers a record 10th successive title this coming May.
Celtic: Gould, Boyd, Annoni, McNamara, Rieper, Stubbs, Larsson, Burley, Brattbakk (Jackson 84), Lambert, Wieghorst. Subs Not Used: Donnelly, Hannah. Booked: Lambert, Boyd. Goals: Burley 66, Lambert 85.
Rangers: Goram, McCall, Cleland, Gough, Porrini, Albertz (Gascoigne 71), Thern, Ferguson, Negri, Gattuso (Durie 59), Laudrup. Subs Not Used: Snelders. Booked: McCall, Negri, Gough. Att: 49,350.
Referee: H Dallas (Motherwell).
