Celtic needed the final minutes of the final day of the Scottish Premiership season to finally overtake Hearts in a 1‑vs.‑2 title decider and secure their fifth straight league title on Saturday with a 3-1 win – a crowning achievement, but not without controversy.
Hearts entered Saturday’s game at Celtic Park with a one-point lead and seemed on course to maintain that lead with a goal from Lawrence Shankland in the 43rd minute. Just before the halftime break, though, Hearts’ Alexandros Kyziridis conceded a penalty and paved the way for Arne Engels to convert and level the score.
The equalizer put the wind in Celtic’s sails and they came out as the aggressors in the second half – they took just three shots in the first half but had 11 in the second, outdoing Hearts in attack even as the go-ahead goal eluded both teams for much of the second 45 minutes. The breakthrough finally came in the 87th minute with Daizen Maeda’s goal, though it required a check from VAR first. A very tight offside review went in Celtic’s favor and gave the hosts the advantage on the table they had chased for much of the season.
Hearts’ last-ditch attempts to find an equalizer did not come off, though, setting up one final goal for Celtic. Hearts goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow was at the other end of the pitch hoping to play a part in his team’s efforts to score, but left a wide-open goal behind him as the ball recycled back into play following a free kick, Callum Osmand coming up with a straightforward finish from distance minutes after notching the assist to Maeda’s goal.
Celtic end the season with seven wins in a row, allowing them to successfully play catch-up during a campaign in which Hearts spent 226 days atop the table. It marks a celebratory end to a chaotic season for the Scottish powerhouses, who underwent three coaching changes over the course of the campaign – ex-Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers after developing a tense relationship with his superiors, while ex-Columbus Crew manager Wilfried Nancy came and went in just 33 days. Martin O’Neill, who had previously coached Celtic from 2000 to 2005, was essentially lured out of retirement to finish the season and went on to win his fourth league title with the club. The team now has 56 league titles, one more than longtime rivals Rangers.
Hearts, meanwhile, mounted a rare challenge to one of Scotland’s two most successful clubs, and would have been the first team not named Rangers or Celtic to have pulled off the feat since 1985.
