Away from international chat for a bit as Chris Sutton reflects on his time at Celtic after being asked if he’s ever scored with his first touch at any point in his career.
Sutton was a prolific striker at Celtic after Martin O’Neill spent £6m to sign him from Chelsea back in 2000.
In 199 appearances for Celtic, Sutton scored 86 goals against the likes of Juventus and Lyon in the Champions League and also six times against Rangers in the Scottish Premiership.
But reflecting on his career, Sutton pinpointed the goal he scored against Rangers in his first Glasgow Derby in August 2000 which Celtic won 6-2 as one he scored with his first touch but he did so with a tongue-in-cheek comment about the lack of refereeing decisions his old club got against the Ibrox outfit.
Chris Sutton digs out refereeing decisions Celtic get vs Rangers in Glasgow Derby
Sutton told the Monday Night Club [3m], “I reckon I have [scored with his first touch], Bruce. I’ve scored a lot of goals inside a minute. So I must have done.
“I never really thought too deeply about stuff like that. But I think my first touch against Rangers was a goal, Bruce, I think in the Demolition Derby, I think. A tap-in. I was actually offside.
“That was the last decision that Celtic had against the Rangers team in over 20 years in a derby game. But there you go.”
The reaction to Sutton’s comment suggests the former Celtic striker was being a little bit cheeky with that remark but we would like to clear something up, the big Englishman was very-much onside with his goal.
Chris Sutton’s five best-ever Celtic goals and record against Rangers
There are so many goals to choose from that Sutton scored for Celtic that it was so hard to pick just five of them.
So out of all of his 86 goals for Celtic, 67 Hail Hail rank Sutton’s best five in terms of importance [not including the Demolition Derby]:
5th: 31/10/01 Celtic 4 v 3 Juventus. Sutton scores a brace as Cetic narrowly miss making out of the Champions League groups.
4th: 07/08/01: Ajax 1 v 3 Celtic. The big Englishman scored Celtic’s 3rd and ensured qualification for the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
3rd: 7/02/01: Celtic 3 v 1 Rangers. Sutton opens the scoring in the League Cup semi-final and sent Celtic on their way to their first treble since the Jock Stein era.
2nd: Hearts 1 v 2 Celtic: Sutton again opened the scoring in the Scottish Cup semi-final. Celtic beat Dundee United in the final that season.
1st: VfB Stuttgart 3 v 2 Celtic: Sutton scored Celtic’s second to put the Hoops 2-0 up. Had he not, then the great run to Seville would likely not have happened as Celtic went through to the quarter-final due to the away goal rule.
Sutton also played 19 times against Rangers winning 11, drawing one and losing seven and scoring six in the process.
