Celtic beat Rangers 5-4 to win revived Tennent’s Sixes at Braehead Arena

Celtic beat Rangers 5-4 at Braehead Arena to win the revived Tennent’s Sixes on Sunday night.

The match came in a tournament the SPFL has brought back after it ran between 1984 and 1993, staged for retired players from all 12 Premiership clubs. The intensity of the football rivalry in Glasgow was evident during the weekend; Celtic had lost 7-1 to Rangers in their group-stage meeting on Saturday but reversed that result in the final. Reactions after the final were comparable to those seen after major trophy games.

Charlie Mulgrew admitted he had been carried away in his celebrations, saying he ignored handshake attempts from Rangers captain Andy Halliday to salute the crowd and that he exchanged words with Rangers manager Barry Ferguson. There were heated scenes reported in the Rangers dressing room after the match. In a video leaked on social media, Kirk Broadfoot appears to be heavily criticising the goalkeeper Lee Robinson.

Mulgrew calmed only slightly when he spoke to Premier Sports; the 40-year-old said: “A lot of adrenaline was flowing, a few nasty tackles. I mean, I know it was the Tennent’s Sixes, but you get caught up in the moment.”

He added in the same interview: “You don’t like to get beat from Rangers, our closest rivals, 7-1, so that hurt. We had a few beers, a wee chat, a wee night out, so we managed to turn it around. We got a few things ironed out, although I was a wee bit rough in the morning. “It feels like I’ve won an actual, real cup. It’s mental. I got a bit carried away at the end there but it builds up. There was a lot of emotion in that. Sometimes that’s what happens, it spills over. “Football’s like that. I got nutmegged a couple of times by [Martyn] Waghorn, and exchanged words with him, then that was me, I was just fired up and fired into a few tackles. In the end, because we had that spirit, we won.”

Celtic manager Tom Boyd said he was “pretty angry” with his players on Saturday night and that it “feels like winning the league”. His assistant Simon Donnelly told Celtic Player after the final they had been “embarrassed” by Saturday’s heavy defeat and added: “It’s against Rangers, so it’s as if it’s a Scottish Cup final there. That’s the feeling. You could play Rangers at tiddlywinks and you’d still want to win.”

The result secured Celtic the Tennent’s Sixes title at Braehead Arena. The tournament had been revived by the SPFL and was contested by retired players from all 12 Premiership clubs.