Rangers beat Celtic 3-0 at Ibrox in the Scottish League Cup quarter-final. Dan Neil scored twice from midfield, and Kevin Kelsy added the third. The result knocked Celtic out of the competition, and Dan Neil’s Rangers brace vs Celtic became the main talking point from Ibrox afterwards.
This update is dated 13 September 2026. It looks back at what Neil said about the win, and about scoring his first senior brace for the club.
The existing match context
Neil wore the captain’s armband that night. It was a mark of trust from Derek McInnes, coming less than two months after his summer move from Sunderland.
His double and Kelsy’s finish gave Rangers a comfortable passage through the quarter-final. The win ended Celtic’s run in this season’s Scottish League Cup. For fuller team news, see our team line-up report and the original match report from Ibrox.
Neil’s reaction to the win
Neil felt Rangers controlled the game far better than they had in recent weeks. “In previous games, we’ve had to surrender the ball, but today we were on the front foot a lot more,” he said.
He pointed to the pressing as the key difference. “There was a lot more man-to-man,” he said. He added, “The intensity and composure in transition- I thought we hurt them really well.”
What Neil said about his brace
Dan Neil’s Rangers brace vs Celtic was the first double of his senior career. It came in the 3-0 win at Ibrox that knocked Celtic out of the Scottish League Cup.
He said scoring twice in one match felt like nothing he had experienced before. “It was my first ever brace in my career. It was an unbelievable feeling scoring one, never mind the two,” he said.
What happens next
Rangers now turn their attention to the league. They travel to Celtic Park on Sunday for the Scottish Premiership fixture, the next meeting between the two sides this season.
For more on the rivalry, Hutton’s Rangers XI view and Barry Ferguson’s Parkhead piece look at the gap between the two clubs. McInnes’s rebuild update covers the manager’s wider project at Ibrox.
