MIKAEL LUSTIG, being Swedish and typically comfortable in his own opinions, shows little reluctance when drawn into the debate over where Rangers truly are as a football team these days.

They would make some kind of contribution to the SPFL Premiership, says the Celtic right-back. They wouldn't get relegated. Not so sure about them challenging, though. That is more a role for Aberdeen and Dundee United these days.

Hearing someone say that Rangers would be little better than mid-table also-rans in the top division is hardly a shock to anyone who has watched them semi-regularly in the SPFL Championship. However, it is odd for someone from within the Old Firm bubble, a rather fraught place unaccustomed to plain speaking, to be so candid.

Of course, it is difficult to argue on the basis of the valuable evidence delivered on Sunday. Lustig was not surprised at the ease with which his team cruised to victory, but, now in his fourth season in Scotland, conceded the much-hyped return of this globally-recognised derby to the calendar was a real damp squib.

Rangers' 2-0 League Cup semi-final loss to Celtic was a sobering lesson for even the most optimistic Ibrox fanatic. There has been some talk about the second half, goalless and dull, showing that there is less of a gap between Glasgow's Big Two than you might imagine, but that is, frankly, ludicrous.

The initial intention of stifling Celtic through a defensive formation fell apart after 10 minutes when Leigh Griffiths, hardly the height of nonsense, was given a free header to make it 1-0. Were it not for dreadful finishing from Virgil van Dijk, a bad decision from the referee, Craig Thomson, and a good save from Steve Simonsen, it could have been 5-0 at half-time.

Taking the decision to lump the ball up to Jon Daly in the second half while Celtic took their feet off the gas should not be dressed up as a positive. A team with the second highest wage bill in the domestic game should be capable of better, but those who have watched Rangers make a habit of lumping the ball up the park this season already knew that.

There is also the not-inconsiderable matter of them failing to manage a single shot at goal. Lustig did take that into account when being asked whether Kenny McDowall's side, trailing behind Hearts in the second tier and seemingly destined for the end-of-season play-offs, are up to top-flight standard at all.

"I don't know, really," he replied. "They should be in the Premier League because they still have some decent players.

"I don't think they would go down.

"I think right now, though, Aberdeen and Dundee United are better teams."

Wasn't Lustig surprised, though, at the fact a much-hyped first encounter between the Old Firm for almost three years ended up so painfully one-sided?

"Not really," he stated. "It is a special game and could maybe be tighter, but our first goal was really important and we controlled the game when it went to 2-0.

"It was good fun. They stayed with the same tactics and just dropped back."

The match really was a no-contest. Given the week of hyperbole that preceded it, Lustig cannot disguise his true feelings when faced with the suggestion that the afternoon was something of an anti-climax.

"Yeah," he said. "We knew if they scored and made it 2-1, it could have been different, but I felt really comfortable.

"They maybe had one shot or cross that was a bit dangerous, but that was it. We made it difficult for Rangers and they didn't change their tactics. They sat back and hoped for the best."

They also hoped for the best when complaining to Thomson on the hour-mark that Lustig should be sent-off for a second bookable offence after catching Stevie Smith in the centre of the pitch.

"If you touch the ball, it's not a free-kick," he said. "If the game was more tight, there might have been more 50/50 duels, but it was quite easy."

There is that word again. Easy. Virgil van Dijk used it in his own, brutal post-match appraisal of events. Scott Brown went further by stating that his goalkeeper, Craig Gordon, only started coming for crosses because he was so bored.

Gordon is, naturally, a more diplomatic figure than his captain. He insists that announcing his presence and sending out an early message was a premeditated ploy.

"I had to make sure I kept my concentration," said Gordon. "Right from the start, I was looking to dominate my box and come and take any balls coming in.

"My mindset was to be quite aggressive and take the pressure off.

"Rangers played how we thought they might, trying to get men behind the ball and looking to hit us on the counter attacks with a more direct ball.

"It doesn't take a great deal of luck for it to work, a misplaced header or whatever it might be, but it didn't work out for them."

Gordon has now kept six straight clean sheets. Lustig has made his own contribution to that proud record and believes maintaining strong defensive standards will be vital in a month that could make-or-break their season.

"If we are strong defensively, we will be good in attack too," he said. "I think we are looking better every week."