Despite racing out to a two-goal lead in the opening period through Youssef Chermiti, his opening goal certainly standing alongside the best goals ever witnessed in this fixture, the away side responded in the second half through goals from Kieran Tierney and Reo Hatate.
Danny Röhl named two changes to his side for the contest, welcoming Dujon Sterling back from injury while handing Ryan Naderi a start alongside Chermiti, who netted twice at Parkhead earlier this season.
The dream start couldn’t have been drawn up more perfectly for the hosts who, with just five minutes on the clock, broke the deadlock is quite stunning fashion.
With the Gers keeping the visitors pinned in from a corner, the ball broke to Andreas Skov Olsen on the right-hand side, evoking memories of his assist against Hearts last month at the Copland Road end of the stadium, who stood up a delightful cross for Chermiti to produce a supreme acrobatic effort that crashed beyond Viljami Sinisalo.
Prior to that Mikey Moore was denied by the head of Dane Murray when his curling effort looked destined for the top corner, while Nico Raskin, albeit the flag was raised for offside, saw Sinisalo equal to his flick at the near post from a short corner.
Ibrox was simply rocking as Rangers continued to torment the visitors, the stands rising in appreciation of yet more Chermiti magic in an Old Firm encounter, and they were soon celebrating once again before the half-hour mark.
Again, Röhl’s men kept the pressure alive down the right-hand side as the ball broke to Raskin whose delivery was sliced by Murray inside the penalty area before Chermiti, buoyed by his earlier magnificence, got himself between Julian Araujo and the ball, produced a deft flick around the full-back, and stabbed beyond Sinisalo for the second time in the opening period.
The visitors appeared completely overwhelmed by the intensity of Rangers’ play as Ibrox and their frustration was typified when Callum McGregor scythed down Moore as he broke forward. The Celtic captain was booked as a result.
A third almost arrived before the interval when Moore clipped into the penalty area from a free-kick, won after Skov Olsen was bundled over by Kieran Tierney by the away support, and Emmanuel Fernandez glanced wide.
Keeping Moore in check was proving particularly difficult for the away side who were continually befuddled by his ability to wriggle into space, with his delivery shortly into the second period arriving at the feet of Tuur Rommens at the far post but the Belgian couldn’t quite sort his feet out in time to trouble Sinisalo.
Martin O’Neill had turned to his substitutes bench at half-time, introducing Sebastian Tounekti and Reo Hatate as the latter tested Jack Butland’s reflexes from distance.
Celtic were beginning to find some joy in the contest and they reduced the arrears nine minutes into the second period when Benjamin Nygren floated in a delivery that Tierney met in the penalty area to nod beyond Butland from close-range.
Daizen Maeda then got goalside of John Souttar briefly as he met Tounekti’s delivery from the left-hand side, but the forward’s header was of the tame variety and a comfortable stop for Butland.
Still, Rangers required more control in proceedings and the introduction of Mohamed Diomande was a nod to exactly that as he replaced Ryan Naderi.
The Ivorian was immediately involved in the action when a free-kick delivery broke to the midfielder at the edge of the penalty area, but his strike sailed over the crossbar.
Röhl’s side were certainly in a contest as the visitors poured forward in search of a leveller, with Hatate blazing over from the edge of the penalty area, much to the relief of the Ibrox crowd, after being teed up by Nygren with just over 20 minutes remaining on the referee’s stopwatch.
Butland thwarted Celtic’s advances minutes later when the away side pierced through the heart of the Gers rearguard through Tounekti. He lifted his head and picked out Luke McCowan in space, but the Gers goalkeeper was quick off his line to narrow the angle and deny the substitute.
However, drama ensued in the dying embers when it appeared as if Butland had denied Maeda from close-range, only for the referee to be advised to take a trip to the pitchside monitor where he adjudged Sterling to have handled the forward's header.
Hatate stepped up from 12 yards and, despite being denied both initially and on the follow-up, the ball broke kindly for the Japanese midfielder to bundle over the line at the third attempt to ensure a share of the spoils.
RANGERS: Butland, Sterling, Souttar, Fernandez, Rommens, Chukwuani, Raskin, Skov Olsen (Gassama, 72), Moore, Chermiti, Naderi (Diomande, 63)
Subs not used: Kelly, Meghoma, Djiga, Tavernier, Aasgaard, Bajrami, Miovski
CELTIC: Sinisalo, Araujo, Murray, Scales, Tierney (Saracchi, 72), McGregor, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Hatate, 45), Nygren (Forrest, 84), Yang (McCowan, 72), Maeda, Adamu (Tounekti, 45)
Subs not used: Doohan, Cvancara, Arthur, Donovan