© EuroFootball.com
The last game of the 2005/06 season and the last Glasgow derby for the "Rangers" team coach Alex McLeish ended goalless - newly crowned Scottish champions "Celtic" did not allow the second-placed "Rangers" to win and take advantage of the failure of "Hearts" on Saturday.
Glasgow 0 - 0 Glasgow
Before the match, fans of both teams united with posters against sectarianism and racism - they expressed their opinion after UEFA threatened to punish "Rangers" for sectarian chanting by fans at Champions League matches against "Villarreal".
"Celtic" started the match with almost their strongest lineup, and coach Gordon Strachan left only the Japanese Shunsuke Nakamura on the bench, while Bulgarian Stilian Petrov, who expressed his desire to leave the club and seek new challenges, played. "Rangers" team lacked captain Barry Ferguson, whose season was already over due to injury, and his place was taken by Gavin Rae, who recovered after surgery.
The latter helped the visitors to not concede against their rivals in terms of territorial superiority, but the hosts had better chances to score: Maciej Zurawski found a free remaining John Hartson within his shot, but the latter missed the ball, and later Rangers goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus had to repel a penalty shot from Shaun Maloney and stop M. Zurawski who invaded the penalty area.
"Rangers" almost did not create dangerous episodes and the only goal scored by Kris Boyd was disallowed for offside, but after the break the guests recovered and after a great opportunity to score missed by Dado Prso, Chris Burke had a chance, but his shot from 15 meters flew over the goal.
D.Prso almost scored as well, but his headed ball was redirected by goalkeeper Artur Boruc into the crossbar, and when the corner kick was lifted, the Polish goalkeeper could not reach the ball and K. Boyd missed the chance to score with his head.
Replacing Roy Keane after an hour, S. Nakamura brought life to "Celtic's" game, but R. Waterreus repelled a long-range attempt by S. Maloney, and that's how the game ended - "Celtic" slightly spoiled things for their city rivals, and "Rangers" remained four points behind "Hearts" until the end of the Scottish championship.
"Hearts" now awaits two home matches against "Celtic" and "Aberdeen" teams, while "Rangers" will meet the "Kilmarnock" and "Hibernian" teams away. In the last round, both clubs fighting for the second ticket to the Champions League will face each other.
