Neil Lennon hails £3.5m Rangers ace who was so good he made Celtic's star man look 'poor'
03/18/2025 09:00 AM
In the build up to Sunday’s Old Firm derby, there was one Rangers player at the forefront of former Celtic manager Neil Lennon’s thinking.
Hamza Igamane had ‘really impressed’ the Celtic legend since arriving in Scottish football from AS Far Rabat to the tune of £1.7 million.
To think, this was supposed to be a settling in year for the Moroccan marksman. A transitional season in which he got used to life in a new country and a new league, learning the language while developing the physicality required to thrive in the Scottish game.
Not even the most optimistic of Rangers fans would have envisaged Hamza Igamane taking his tally to 14 with an ‘phenomenal’ late strike to end the club’s five-year wait for a win at Celtic Park.
Igamane was the hero as Barry Ferguson’s dream week was capped off in some style. But he was far from the only stand-out performer on the day. Rangers Newshanded our very own Man of the Match award to John Souttar. Nico Raskin and Mohamed Diomande were both imperious, not to mention goalscorers.
Post-match, meanwhile, Lennon paid a reluctant tribute to Ridvan Yilmaz.
Rangers’ Mr Versatile back on the left, and shutting down a man who – until Daizen Maeda’s recent spell of deadly finishing – looked a nailed-on cert for the Premiership Player of the Year award.
Neil Lennon pays Ridvan Yilmaz tribute after Rangers beat Celtic
Nicolas Kuhn tore Rangers’ backline to shreds in December’s League Cup final. Three months on, however, a man with 18 goals and 13 assists to his name never really threatened to add to that scintillating tally.
And much of the reason that, Lennon feels, was the diligence and discipline of Ridvan Yilmaz, playing at left wing-back under Barry Ferguson for the first-time.
“[Kuhn] was poor, yeah,” Lennon told Sky Sports. “Sloppy. A lack of belief, speed. To be fair to Yilmaz, he played him really well.
“It's not just Nicolas Kuhn, the whole team was lethargic for the first 20 minutes and Rangers took the game to Celtic and they weren't at it.”
This is not the first time the £3.5 million signing from Besiktas stepped up his game against the runaway Premiership leaders.
Kris Boyd labelled Ridvan Yilmaz ‘excellent’ after he shut down Daizen Maeda during that 3-0 win at Ibrox to begin 2025. He managed something basically no other defender has managed in Scotland this season, and certainly something James Tavernier has always struggled to do.
Flash forward to mid-March, and Nicolas Kuhn was the latest to enter the Ridvan penitentiary; Under lock and key throughout as Rangers followed up their heroic Europa League triumph over Fenerbahce with a statement victory which should bring the belief back ahead of what fans hope will be a far more successful 2025/26 campaign.
Barry Ferguson’s new formation again works wonders at Parkhead
Ferguson stuck with the 3-4-2-1 system which saw the Glasgow giants past Jose Mourinho over two legs. Former Rangers forward Gordon Dalziel thinks the formation suits a number of players who shone only intermittently under Philippe Clement.
Ridvan Yilmaz chief among them.
"The one thing, touching on formation, you sit and look at Rangers and you wonder why has nobody ever went to that three [at the back before]?," a bemused Dalziel wondered in the build-up.
"See, if you criticise Rangers, you criticise them in the full-back areas. [People say Yilmaz and Jefte] cannot defend. Tavernier gets dog's abuse. But, going forward, they are very good.
“So the fact they are putting the extra defender in there, I think that has worked out.”
