It was however, a nightmare, for one man – Robert Douglas. The Celtic keeper was distinctly culpable for two of Rangers’ goals and might not recover from a disastrous day.
He threw in Mikel Arteta’s shot in six minutes and he spilled Arthur Numan’s less than powerful effort in 76 minutes to allow Shota Arveladze to squeeze Rangers 3-2 ahead.
However, Douglas was partially saved by Chris Sutton who equalised for Celtic with 12 minutes remaining and you have to say that Celtic deserved a draw.
The result, of course, suited McLeish much more than Martin O’Neill as the Ibrox boss took his Old Firm record to five games without defeat and had he been offered a point before kick-off he would have eaten it up.
Of course, in the heat of the battle you sometimes want more and having edged ahead with 14 minutes to go McLeish naturally wanted to hold it but he can have few complaints.
You would have expected Celtic to come flying out of the traps but it was Rangers who drew first blood with a goal which was largely down to the ineptitude of Douglas.
Joos Valgaeren only half-cleared Fernado Ricksen’s low cross and the ball broke to Arteta. The young Spaniard, sampling this unique atmosphere for the first time, hit the ball smartly towards the centre of the Celtic goal.
Douglas seemed to have it covered but inexplicably helped the ball into the left corner of the net and the Rangers fans went berserk. It was a dream start after the desperate disappointment of last Thursday’s Euro exit and the punters knew it.
Rangers were comfortable in their lead for the first 15 or 20 minutes but they allowed Celtic to come onto them and there seemed an inevitability that Celtic would equalise.
The Ibrox men were defending too deeply and allowed Celtic too much possession so there was no real surprise when the Parkhead talisman Henrik Larsson struck seven minutes before half-time.
Momo Sylla crossed from the right, Larsson contriolled the ball with his right foot to escape the clutches of Craig Moore, moved onto his left and crashed a powerful shot past Stefan Klos.
There was more misery to come for Moore, who was a pre-match doubt with a thigh injury, as he was unable to come back out for the second half and was replaced by Bert Konterman.
McLeish made another switch in 49 minutes when he brought on Neil McCann for the rather ineffective Lovenkrands and the 28-year-old winger was as emphatically impactful as he was against Viktoria Zizkov.
However, Rangers were to suffer before McCann made his mark as Celtic took the lead in 53 minutes when Stilian Petrov swung over a corner from the left and Larsson, seemingly unmarked, powered a header high into the net.
Incredibly, Rangers managed to react within a minute and it was a fantastic goal. The awesome Lorenzo Amoruso won the ball from Sutton and then drove a great ball down the left touchline for McCann.
The former Hearts star skipped away from Sylla and produced a superb cross for Ronald de Boer who headed into the net and then charged to the ecstatic Rangers supporter and slapped high fives.
Only the brilliance of Klos stopped Larsson from claiming a hat-trick in 56 minutes when he pushed the Swede’s header over the bar when the Rangers defence were again guilty of poor marking.
That said, Arteta fizzed a shot just wide in 59 minutes from Maurice Ross’s cross, but Celtic looked the stronger at this stage and Klos has to race from his line to deny Larsson in 64 minutes.
Then two minutes later Alan Thompson scraped the top of the crossbar with a freekick from the right hand side and it looked ominous for the Ibrox men.
However, Rangers rallied and came storming back. Douglas spilled a shot from Arveladze in 72 minutes but Ulrik Laursen saved the keeper’s blushed by clearing. Then a minute later de Boer’s stinging effort was deflected for a corner.
There was better to come as Rangers roared into the lead in 78 minutes to the utter joy of their fans but, again, it was a complete disaster for Celtic keeper Douglas.
Numan fired a left foot shot from distance which Douglas should have dealt with but he let it slip from his fingers. Arveladze was onto the ball quicker than Bobo Balde and squeezed it into the net. Cue mayhem.
Almost the entire Rangers team raced to engulf Arveladze who almost ended up in the crowd and suddenly a famous win looked on the cards.
As ever in these remarkable game, it ain’t over until it’s over and Celtic found an equaliser two minutes later.
Again the Rangers defending was not great as Thompson’s free kick came into the box. They didn’t react to Hartson’s flick on and Sutton drove the ball into the net.
So, in the end it was a share of the spoils which suited Rangers much more than Celtic. It was an Old Firm classic but a match Rab Douglas would love to forget.
CELTIC: Douglas; Valgaeren, Balde, Laursen; Sylla (Agathe 58), Lennon, Petrov (Hartson 75), Lambert (Maloney 77), Thompson; Larsson, Sutton.Subs not used – Gould, Crainey.
Bookings: Thompson (11), Sylla (18), Balde (25).
RANGERS: Klos; Ross, Moore (Konterman 45), Amoruso, Numan; Ricksen, Arteta, Ferguson; de Boer (Caniggia 84), Arveladze, Lovenkrands (McCann 49).Subs not used – McGregor, Latapy.
Bookings: de Boer (25), Ricksen (30), Klos (66), Ross (83).
Att: 59,027.Ref: Stuart Dougal.Man of the match: Lorenzo Amoruso.