Celtic turned a meeting billed as an early Scottish Premiership title test into a one-sided statement, routing Hearts 7-1 at Celtic Park to move four points clear at the top. The champions scored five times before half-time, then added two more after the restart in a result that left last season’s runners-up with little consolation beyond Laurent Mendy’s first-half reply.
Kieran Tierney opened the scoring in the seventh minute, arriving unmarked to head home Liam Scales’ flick from a Mika Baur corner. Celtic struck again three minutes later from another set piece: Dane Murray helped the ball on and Benjamin Nygren turned it into the bottom corner. The hosts had established a two-goal cushion before the contest had settled.
Hearts had threatened in spells, but could not stem Celtic’s pressure. Haissem Hassan struck a post, while Sabri Guendouz tested goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo after carrying the ball into the area. Those moments offered a glimpse of a response; instead, Celtic’s attack took control midway through the half.
Callum Osmand scored twice in two minutes, first sliding in to finish a cross from Camilo Durán in the 36th minute, then heading in Durán’s delivery at 38 minutes. Osmand, making his first start for the club, gave the home side a four-goal lead and turned a commanding start into a rout.
Laurent Mendy pulled one back for Hearts in the 41st minute, finishing after Josh McPake supplied him. But the visitors’ brief lift did not survive the interval. In first-half stoppage time, Stephen Kingsley’s attempted clearance rebounded off Jamie McCart and into the Hearts goal, restoring Celtic’s four-goal advantage at 5-1.
Celtic needed only four minutes of the second half to score again. Tierney set up Durán, who swept the ball home in the 49th minute. Nygren completed the scoring in the 83rd, converting a pass from Kasper Høgh to claim his second of the afternoon and Celtic’s seventh. The spread of scorers underlined the range of the home side’s threat: two goals each for Nygren and Osmand, with Tierney and Durán also on target, alongside McCart’s own goal.
The set-piece start was especially striking given the recent history between the clubs. Celtic’s first two goals came from Baur’s corners, with Scales and Murray each supplying the decisive touch before Tierney and Nygren finished. Hearts had arrived in Glasgow among the division’s leading sides and with a reputation for danger from dead-ball situations, but here they were undone by Celtic’s delivery and their own inability to clear. Once the visitors fell behind, the home side found space to attack the box repeatedly, and the two quick Osmand goals made recovery increasingly improbable.
The own goal on the stroke of half-time was another setback at exactly the wrong moment. Hearts had just found a way back into the match through Mendy, yet went into the dressing room four goals behind rather than three. Celtic emerged without easing off, and Durán’s quick finish ended any possibility of a sustained second-half revival. Nygren’s late strike then put a clear final mark on a game in which Celtic converted their dominance into goals at regular intervals.
Manager Martin O’Neill praised the performance and the confidence Celtic gained from their early breakthrough. He said the team played well throughout, looked good going forward and that the back four had done exceptionally well. O’Neill singled out Osmand’s strength and finishing, while cautioning that a four-point lead at this stage of the campaign meant little. He also said Hearts remained a strong side and a serious challenge for Celtic and Rangers.
Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken called the defeat disappointing, particularly the way it unfolded. He said the two early set plays had killed his team’s game and pointed to individual errors as a recurring problem, while urging players not to lose belief in their own ability. His priority, he said, was to learn from the mistakes and move on to the next match.
The result put Celtic on 24 points after nine matches, four ahead of Rangers, with Hearts third on 16, according to the league table updated on Sunday. It is a sizeable gap, but O’Neill’s warning that it is too early to draw conclusions was apt: the sides will meet again, and the season’s longer test remains ahead. Celtic’s immediate reward is a commanding position; Hearts must absorb a damaging afternoon without allowing one result to define their campaign.
