Battle Fever has been eradicated from Rangers support for Celtic after Philippe Clement had found fresh variant

COVID wasn’t the only thing catching the last time Rangers registered a victory at Celtic Park.

That now rarest of wins on opposition territory back in October 2020 came at a time when Glasgow and the rest of the world had only just been set free from months of Zoom quizzes and Joe Wicks workouts in the living room. Scottish football, however, was still operating under lockdown conditions as Steven Gerrard’s side headed to an eerily empty Parkhead.

Crowds were barred to prevent the spread of the disease. But there was no way to halt a dose of Battle Fever running rife through the city as Gers put a major dent in Celtic’s bid for the 10. With two swings of Connor Goldson’s boot, the blue half of Glasgow – enervated by a succession of brutal beatings following their return to the top flight – all of a sudden felt a rush of triumphalism cursing through their veins.

They milked the moment for all it was worth. Stadium shutters across Scotland may have been pulled down but they didn’t miss the chance to remind their rivals just who were the Old Firm’s new top dogs. You couldn’t turn on your phone or log on to a message board without being met with a blast of Live It Up as the gleeful Rangers faithful took delight in the sad faces across the city.

As the sharks were being tossed around outside Parkhead, the Ibrox punters had the fishing rods out, looking to bait their old sparring partners with mocking memes and taunting tweets. Yet these days, not even the most sensitive of lateral flow tests could find signs of the hubristic strains that were floating about back then.

Battle Fever, it seems, has been eradicated. Seldom have the Rangers support gone into a derby with so little optimism – and who can blame them? Bar that one