Rangers v Celtic: Chris Sutton blown away by Rabbi Matondo wondergoal at Ibrox
Chris Sutton was wowed by Rabbi Matondo’s “absolutely stunning” equaliser for Rangers in the draw with Celtic at Ibrox.
The Sky Sports pundit was full of praise for the Welshman’s stoppage-time strike, arched perfectly inside the far post to secure a 3-3 draw, on the It’s All Kicking Off podcast (8 April).
Having fought back from 2-0 down to level the game at 2-2 through Abdallah Sima the Light Blues managed to concede to Adam Idah almost immediately and seemingly throw the game away, but Matondo’s wondergoal secured a point as Sutton expects the title race to now go “to the wire”.
He said (46m): “I’ve got to say the Rangers equaliser, into added time, was an absolutely stunning goal from Matondo. Brilliant, brilliant finish and the roof nearly came off the stadium.
“It’s finely poised now. Rangers go to Dundee on Wednesday, they’re a point behind, but this is going to go to the wire and that game [at Parkhead], Celtic and Rangers may drop points in other games but that game is going to be pivotal.”
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The quality of Matondo’s goal helped gloss over some hugely negative aspects of an eventful game, and allowed Rangers and the home crowd to come out of the draw feeling uplifted.
So as well as the result it could have an ongoing positive effect heading into the rearranged game in hand against Dundee.
Matondo is a huge threat if allowed to cut in off the left onto his right foot and he demonstrated why for the second time in consecutive games, after netting a similar strike in the 3-1 win over Hibs the previous weekend.
He ultimately proved to be one of the major positives on an up-and-down day which at one stage looked like going the way of so many recent Celtic encounters, with self-inflicted defensive errors throwing away a game filled with VAR controversy.
The likes of John Lundstram, Connor Goldson and James Tavernier all underperformed, albeit the captain stepped up to dispatch a perfect penalty to atone for his first-minute error which allowed Daizen Maeda to score.
And Philippe Clement arguably made a pair of mistakes in starting Scott Wright and Tom Lawrence over Sima and Todd Cantwell.
But the Belgian made changes and his side rallied, so if Rangers had to make a mess of one half and dominate the other it is probably best that it was in the order they did so to allow Matondo to have the final say and come out of the game riding a wave of momentum.
In other Rangers news, an impending rule change has thrown a spanner in the works of an Ibrox exit.
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