Celtic Glasgow are almost certain to be crowned Scottish champions for the 52nd time in their history after a 4-1 victory against Hearts.
After beating Hearts of Midlothian 4-1 on Saturday, Celtic Glasgow are all but assured of winning their 52nd Scottish league title.
With 9 points ahead of Rangers, who only have 3 games to play, and a much higher goal difference (+64 against +22), it would take an incredible combination of circumstances for the “Boysare not crowned.
They could be on Sunday if Rangers do not win against Dundee United (4:00 p.m.).
If the Europa League finalists win, it will take just one point for Celtic on Wednesday, away to Dundee United, to be mathematically crowned.
The winner of the Scottish championship will qualify for the group stage of the next Champions League, for the first time since 2017, while the second will play in the play-offs. The Rangers, guaranteed to finish at least second, will escape the play-offs if they win the C3 against Frankfurt on May 18 in Seville.
«I appreciated (this victory) because I want our supporters to be happy. The job is not done, but we are in a great positioncommented coach Ange Postecoglou.
Like its season, Celtic started laboriously to gradually ramp up.
Hearts, who had inflicted on him one of the only three defeats in the league, during the first day, had opened the scoring by Ellis Simms from the 3rd minute.
But Postecoglou, who arrived this summer from the Yokohama Marinos, gave Celtic a wealth of knowledge of Japanese football and internationals Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuashi overturned the score in seven minutes, even before the break.
Matt O’Riley made the break, from a tight angle, 21 minutes from time, before Georgios Giakoumakis made the score even heavier at the last minute.
«I am very proud of the players“Said the Australian coach who put Celtic back at the top of Scottish football, when he finished 25 points behind Rangers last season.
«We were down by one goal, which hasn’t happened often this season, but we played fantastic football, we scored four goals, but we could have scored four more“, estimated Postecoglou, whose team remains on 30 matches without defeat in the league.