"I knew I was going to shoot from that distance, because I knew I had space in front of me," he said. "I hit the ball so it would swerve, I meant that. It was my first goal against Rangers and that is obviously important to me.

"Actually, it is the best-ever goal of my Celtic career. I thought I might get a second goal, too, but the Rangers defender was such a good goalkeeper that he kept it out."

Nakamura is refusing to get carried away with talk of a Celtic title revival.

He said: "I'm not thinking about the championship, only about the next game in front of me. We can't focus on this one result against Rangers. We must focus only on Celtic and how we play.

"We need to keep this form going for the last five games of the season. I think it is most important that we score first - then we can manage to play good football."

It was noticeable that Nakamura drifted into the central area to make his most telling contribution, taking on more responsibility in a slightly reshaped midfield unit.

"We are getting better," he said. "With Barry Robson and Paul Hartley in the middle of midfield, we play very simple football. Against Rangers, that is probably the best way for us to play."