Glasgow Rangers moved level on points with Celtic in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday with a phenomenal 3-1 victory over their rivals at Parkhead.
The Gers found themselves 1-0 down at the break, thanks to a goal from Hyun-jun Yang, but a stunning three-goal second half meant that Danny Rohl claimed his first Old Firm victory.
Youssef Chermiti doubling his Rangers goal tally from two to four in this match helped to claim all three points, and he was one of a number of key performers.
Ranking the five best Rangers performers against Celtic
The Portugal U21 international has gone through a redemption arc at Ibrox. After scoring one goal in his first 22 appearances in all competitions, per Sofascore, the striker has found the back of the net three times in the last four games.
Chermiti’s second goal was the pick of the bunch as he ran almost the entire half on his own with the ball before calmly slotting past Kasper Schmeichel to put the Gers 2-1 up.
Jack Butland also deserves praise for bouncing back from his mistake from Yang’s goal, allowing the shot to go through him at the near post, to make eight saves in the game, per Sofascore.
Nico Raskin and Mikey Moore were also influential performers with their contributions at the top end of the pitch, as the Belgian midfielder teed up Chermiti’s equaliser with a brilliant run and cross, and the Spurs loanee scored the third goal of the game.
Top Rangers performers vs Celtic
Rank
Player
1
Youssef Chermiti
2
Dujon Sterling
3
Jack Butland
4
Nico Raskin
5
Mikey Moore
As you can see in the table above, we have ranked Chermiti as the top performer in the game because, at the end of the day, his two goals turned it from 1-0 Celtic to 2-1 Rangers, so it is hard to be more influential than that.
However, Dujon Sterling was still a close second with his impressive performance at right-back, having been picked ahead of captain James Tavernier in that position.
Why Dujon Sterling is completely undroppable
The experienced defender, who earned an 8/10 player rating from Glasgow World, should be considered completely undroppable at right-back after his display, despite Tavernier and Max Aarons being available for that position.
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Sterling has performed an even bigger redemption arc than Chermiti because it was only his fourth appearance for the club in the Premiership since he suffered an Achilles injury in April.
To be out of action for eight months and to come back and perform at the level the former Chelsea man has performed at deserves huge praise, and is even more impressive than the turnaround that Chermiti has had because the striker has been playing throughout the campaign.
Another aspect of his performance that made it even more impressive was that he was thrown in at right-back up against Daizen Maeda, who has caused so many problems for Tavernier down Rangers’ right side over the years.
Vs Rangers
Daizen Maeda
Appearances
22
Wins
13
Draws
5
Losses
4
Goals
5
Assists
5
Stats via Transfermarkt
As you can see in the table above, the Japan international had produced ten goals contributions in 21 games against the Light Blues prior to the game on Saturday.
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Sterling did not give Maeda, or any of his teammates, much of a sniff in front of goal, though, as he won 100% of his tackles, made five clearances, and made three interceptions, per Sofascore.
There was one clearance in particular that stood out in the second half, as the ball dropped loose in the six-yard box and Sterling came sliding in to clear the ball just before Maeda had a free shot at goal from point-blank range.
The Celtic forward ended the game with no goals, no assists, no dribbles completed, and six out of seven ground duels won, per Sofascore, whilst Sterling was not dribbled past a single time.
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Therefore, the English full-back should be considered totally undroppable by Rohl because he has shown that he can deliver a high-quality performance in a big game, against an opponent that has consistently got the better of Tavernier.