Former Celtic left-back Greg Taylor has named the famous 3-0 victory over Rangers under the lights at Celtic Park as his standout moment in a Hoops shirt.
The match, played on a Wednesday night due to COVID-related fixture delays, proved pivotal in Ange Postecoglou’s first season.
Celtic blew their rivals away in a blistering first half, with two goals from Reo Hatate and a third from Liel Abada sending the home crowd into raptures. The result sent Celtic to the top of the Premiership table and sparked genuine belief they could reclaim the title.
Taylor, now with PAOK after his Parkhead contract expired, says nothing has come close to matching that evening.
“I still tell everyone now that it was comfortably my favourite game so far in my career. It was an unbelievable night,” he told the Celtic Way. “The atmosphere was amazing, and so was the timing of the win!”
“When you think back on things, you can maybe dramatise it in your head, but it was amazing. That season in general was probably the first campaign where I was playing a main role within the team, and we weren’t expected to win back the league title or backed as much as we wanted to be to reclaim it.
“I don’t think anyone, from the turnaround that summer, fully believed that we could do it, apart from the team, the players and the management inside the building.
“Under Ange, we had such a strong team, and we all had our roles within it, which really suited us and brought us massive enjoyment, as well as massive success on the park.”
That result proved a turning point, and Celtic would go on to finish the season as champions.
Speaking after that match, Ange Postecoglou praised his “outstanding” Celtic side, and admitted that they could have had a few more goals if it hadn’t been for some top saves from Allan McGregor.
“I’m very proud of the lads,” he told the Guardian. “Our first half was outstanding. The football we played was just brilliant, we could have had a few more.
“Allan McGregor was outstanding in their goal. Second half, we had to defend a bit more, but we showed we can defend if we need to.
“Full credit to the players, we knew it was a big game with consequences, there was pressure on us, and I thought they handled it superbly.
“We wanted to set the tempo, and we did that today. The whole side was outstanding, but it was good for Reo Hatate to get a couple of goals. We know he’s got quality. He’ll get better, it’s only his third game and you can see he’s nowhere near the levels of fitness required, but we’ll build him up.
“We’re not happy with where we are, we want to get better. We lost three of our first six, and couldn’t afford to not get out of that pretty quickly and almost be perfect, so we’ve been under pressure.
“I’ve had some special moments in football, but tonight’s atmosphere was one of them.”
That was a real turning point in Celtic’s season. It was a massive result that saw Celtic march on and win the League and League Cup double, having won the Viaplay Cup against Hibs in the December before the derby.
