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With both sides duelling at the top of the Scottish Premiership table, the fixture had been billed as a potentiall title decider, but in the end, both sides earned a point to keep them separated by just one point, with Celtic staying top, although having played a game more.

Celtic took an extraordinary lead merely 21 seconds into the contest when James Tavernier was too slow to react to a long ball and Daizen Maeda ran up from behind him, and the ball flew into the net as he blocked the Rangers captain's attempted clearance. Jack Butland was then forced into flurry of saves as Celtic pushed for more, and a VAR check in amongst the melees caught a Connor Goldson handball in the box, and Matt O'Riley stepped up to float a panenka past Butland from the spot to double the Hoops' lead.

Joe Hart was called into work just prior to the break, producing a stunning double save to keep the hosts at bay, but Rangers struck back 10 minutes after the restart when Fabio Silva went down in the Celtic box.

Initially he was booked for simulation, but another VAR check caused referee John Beaton to believe he had been fouled, leading to a penalty which Tavernier blasted into the top-left corner, and Silva's yellow card was also cancelled.

Silva then burst forward as Rangers counter-attacked barely moments later, but the scramble that saw them score again came after a foul in the buil-up, so a second goal was chalked off.

The hosts did equalise in the 86th minute through Sima, but Celtic led again 71 seconds later when Adam Idah found the net.

With Rangers desperately searching again for another way back into the match, substitute Matondo procued a moment of pure magic three minutes into stoppage-time, curling a sensational shot from the left corner of the box past the despairing dive of Hart to blow the roof off Ibrox and eanr Rangers what was arguably a deserved point.

Rangers' game in hand against Dundee comes on Thursday (AEST) but they must still travel again to Celtic Park after the split with more twists likely.

Rangers left-back Ridvan Yilmaz could not prove his fitness and coach Philippe Clement preferred utility player Dujon Sterling to Borna Barisic, while Tom Lawrence replaced Todd Cantwell.

Celtic captain Callum McGregor was only fit enough for the bench after recovering from an achilles tendon problem and he would have been as stunned as anyone when the Hoops took an instant lead.

Hart’s long clearance went past a hesitant Tavernier, who tried to clear under pressure from Maeda but the ball rebounded off the Japan attacker and flew low past Butland in the Rangers goal.

In the 24th minute a Mohamed Diomande corner was headed over by Goldson before Butland made a great save from a Maeda drive and then Reo Hatate fired just wide from the edge of the box, bringing more jeers down from the stands.

Butland made an even better save from an O’Riley header on the half-hour mark and there was a VAR check for a possible Celtic penalty for a Goldson handball in the next attack.

When referee Beaton checked his pitchside monitor at the behest of VAR Nick Walsh, he decided the ball had struck the centre-back’s elbow and pointed to the spot.

O’Riley dinked the ball down the middle and Butland dived the wrong way.

Just before the break Rangers forward Fabio Silva, who was having a frustrating afternoon, had two attempts from close range blocked but the boos rang out at the sound of Beaton’s half-time whistle.

Clement replaced winger Scott Wright with Sima for the start of the second half, where Silva was soon booked for diving inside the Celtic box after a challenge by Alistair Johnston.

Beaton, however, was again sent by the VAR check to the screen and again he pointed to the spot – it looked a soft award – cancelling out Silva’s yellow card and Tavernier blasted the ball high past Hart.

Then Cyriel Dessers slammed in from close range after a goalmouth scramble but Beaton checked his monitor again and ruled Lawrence had fouled midfield counterpart Tomoki Iwata in the build-up.

The mood inside Ibrox had changed as Rangers went in search of an equaliser and it came with four minutes of normal time remaining when Sima picked up a clearance inside the Celtic box and fired high into the net via a deflection.

However, moments later, Idah, on for Kyogo Furuhashi, took a pass from fellow substitute Paulo Bernardo and fired past Butland.

But in the third of eight added minutes, Matondo turned inside in the Celtic box and curled the ball high past Hart and Ibrox bounced for the last few minutes, Dessers almost blasting in a winner before  the final whistle had players from both sides at loggerheads as passions boiled over.