Celtic 6-2 Rangers: The Demolition Derby (2000)

The Football Documentary Channel · Published 27 August 2026

Celtic 6-2 Rangers: The Demolition Derby (2000)

Celtic 6-2 Rangers is the scoreline Old Firm history files under the Demolition Derby. On Sunday 27 August 2000, Celtic thrashed Rangers at Celtic Park in the Scottish Premier League, Martin O’Neill’s first Glasgow derby as manager. Chris Sutton headed Celtic in front after 51 seconds, Stiliyan Petrov and Paul Lambert made it 3-0 inside 11 minutes, and Henrik Larsson later chipped Stefan Klos for 4-1. Sutton and Larsson each finished with a double, and it remains one of our favourite On This Day moments.

What follows is how those six goals arrived, why Larsson’s chip is still celebrated, and how one August afternoon set the tone for a treble.

The Afternoon O’Neill’s Celtic Announced Themselves

A Manager With Everything to Prove

Martin O’Neill had been in the Celtic job only weeks, arriving in the summer of 2000 to a club that had spent a decade in the shadow of Ibrox. Rangers were the reigning champions under Dick Advocaat, backed by heavy spending on the likes of Claudio Reyna and Bert Konterman, and few outside the East End expected the balance of the Glasgow derby to tip on a single afternoon. Celtic had spent big of their own, Chris Sutton arriving for around six million pounds, but a new manager’s first Old Firm derby is a trapdoor as often as a stage. You can trace the full history of the Old Firm derby, from its 1888 origins to its modern grudges, in The Old Firm Derby: A Divided History.

The Scottish Premier League table would ultimately be settled between these two, so an early meeting carried weight beyond the three points. What nobody at Celtic Park expected was that the contest would be effectively over before Rangers had touched the ball in Celtic’s half with any conviction.

Three Up Inside Eleven Minutes

Chris Sutton headed Celtic in front after just 51 seconds, before many of the 59,476 had settled. Stiliyan Petrov drove in a second on eight minutes, and Paul Lambert lashed a third from distance on 11, so Celtic were 3-0 up inside a quarter of an hour of O’Neill’s first derby. Rangers steadied only briefly: Claudio Reyna pulled one back on 40 minutes to make it 3-1 at the interval and hint at a way back. The comeback never came.

How the demolition unfolded:

• 1′ Chris Sutton heads Celtic ahead after 51 seconds, 1-0.
• 8′ Stiliyan Petrov drives in the second, 2-0.
• 11′ Paul Lambert makes it three from distance, 3-0.
• 40′ Claudio Reyna pulls one back for Rangers, 3-1.
• 50′ Henrik Larsson chips Stefan Klos for the signature goal, 4-1.
• 55′ Billy Dodds converts a penalty for Rangers, 4-2.
• 62′ Henrik Larsson strikes again for his double, 5-2.
• 90′ Chris Sutton completes his own double, 6-2.

Larsson’s Chip and the Making of a Treble

The Goal That Defined the Day

Five minutes into the second half came the moment the afternoon is remembered for. Henrik Larsson took a Sutton pass on his chest fully 30 yards from goal, rode past the challenge of Konterman, and with Stefan Klos caught off his line, floated the ball over the goalkeeper and inside the far post for 4-1. By Larsson’s own account on Celtic Way, he had settled on the chip the moment he saw Klos advanced, and supporters regularly vote the strike Celtic’s finest of the modern era. Billy Dodds answered from the penalty spot on 55 minutes for 4-2, but Larsson restored the four-goal margin on 62, and by then the contest was a procession.

Rangers’ afternoon curdled completely when Barry Ferguson was sent off on 81 minutes, and Sutton headed his second in the final minute to make it 6-2. As Sky Sports later put it, “O’Neill introduced himself to Scotland’s biggest club fixture with a 6-2 win”, the doubles from Sutton and Larsson leaving Advocaat’s champions shell-shocked. The full film sets afternoons like this in more than a century of context.

What the Demolition Derby Set in Motion

O’Neill would later reflect that this was arguably the most important match of his Celtic career, on the grounds that it gave his players the belief to sweep everything before them, as the club’s histories record. He was right about the season. Celtic won the 2000-01 Scottish Premier League, the Scottish Cup and the League Cup for a domestic treble, with Larsson finishing as Europe’s leading scorer. The Demolition Derby was the afternoon a title race stopped feeling like a contest, and it did so in the first meeting of the two. For more nights and afternoons that reset a season, keep exploring our On This Day series.

READ MORE: The Old Firm Derby: A Divided History, Deep Dive →

Celtic 6-2 Rangers (2000)

A goal inside a minute, three inside 11, and a chip that Celtic supporters still call the best of the century: Martin O’Neill’s first Old Firm derby became the Demolition Derby and the launchpad for a treble. For more afternoons that turned a season, keep exploring our On This Day series and the channel.