Rangers claimed their first victory over Celtic this season in the final derby clash between the clubs on Saturday.

Michael Beale's men ran out 3-0 winners over Celtic at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership fixture.

However, there has been much talk over rotation in the Celtic squad factoring in the result with key players Cameron Carter-Vickers and Alistair Johnston unavailable.

Ange Postecoglou made a raft of changes and even conceded after the match that the rotation "didn't help" his side in the match.

The Celtic boss commented: "There is probably a number of reasons but credit to Rangers and obviously you are facing a difficult opponent at their venue and the amount of changes I made probably didn't help in terms of the guys lacking a little bit of sharpness."

Pundit Chris Sutton elevated the point as he suggested Rangers only managed to topple 'Celtic Reserves' as he referenced the much-changed line-up.

He stated: "It's about winning and I think the last month truth be told Celtic have faded a little bit. Rangers needed to keep the pressure on, they didn't, it was Celtic Reserves, it was like a bounce game for Celtic."

However, playing minutes statistics - compiled used transfermarkt data - suggests Rangers fielded a side with less experience this season.

Using playing minutes data, Celtic fielded a starting XI with a combined game time - including Saturday's match - of 18,030 while Rangers' lineup played 14,319 minutes so far this season.

There were significant changes in both sides with Robby McCrorie, Ridvan Yilmaz, Rabbi Matondo and John Souttar handed opportunities to impress for Rangers.

On the opposite side, Alexandro Bernabei, Yuki Kobayashi and Oh Hyeon-gyu were given run-outs from the start at Ibrox.

Playing time statistics show that suggestions of a Celtic 'B team' - something which has been used to taunt Ibrox supporters after the win - appear wide of the mark.

Five Rangers players involved from the start have played less than 1,000 minutes this season. For Celtic, that number is three.

Similarly, the stats show a major discrepancy in the number of players on either side who have played more than 2,000 minutes in the league this term.

For Rangers, just three players who started at Ibrox yesterday have achieved that milestone - Celtic have six players over the 2,000-minutes played mark.

You can see the minutes played statistics for both starting XIs below.

Rangers

Robby McCrorie - 180

Ridvan Yilmaz - 334

Connor Goldson - 2,250

John Souttar - 489

James Tavernier - 3,108

John Lundstram - 2,534

Ryan Jack - 1,447

Nicolas Raskin - 632

Todd Cantwell - 1,025

Rabbi Matondo - 756

Fashion Sakala - 1,564

Total: 14,319

Celtic

Joe Hart - 3,150

Alexandro Bernabei -  774

Carl Starfelt -  2,124

Yuki Kobayashi -  360

Anthony Ralston -  1,054

Callum McGregor -  2,492

Matt O'Riley -  2,351

Reo Hatate -  2,021

Liel Abada - 1,330

Oh Hyeon-gyu - 361

Jota -  2,013

Total: 18,030

Stats according to transfermarkt.co.uk

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