Celtic crowned champions again after late show against Hearts
Celtic crowned champions again after late show against Hearts Daizen Maeda scored in the 86th minute as Celtic came from behind to defeat league leaders Hearts and become Scottish champions once again. Martin O'Neill has done brilliantly well to get his Celtic side to the position in which winning against Hearts on the final day would be enough to clinch the league – something that felt impossible earlier in the season. The game began with plenty of absorbing tension even if there was little goalmouth action until just before the break.
Hearts took the lead from a powerful corner delivery from Stephen Kingsley to the back post that Lawrence Shankland headed in to stun Celtic Park to silence. However, the scores were level at the break after Alexandros Kyziridis slid in to block Kieran Tierney's cross with the ball inadvertently coming off his hand. It's hard to ever point the finger at a goalkeeper for a penalty but Alex Schwolow probably should have kept Arne Engels ' spot kick out, guessing the right way but diving over the ball.
The tension continued in the second half with Celtic having much of the ball but it wasn't until late in the game that they started to have big chances with Kelechi Iheanacho turning and firing an effort off the post before Benjamin Nygren forced Schwolow into an athletic save. Then with just four minutes remaining of normal time Callum Osmand put in a low cross that Daizen Maeda turned into the net. Initially, the assistant referee had his flag up but VAR intervened with Maeda clearly onside by the time he received the ball to put the Bhoys at the top of the table.
By the time everything had been checked there was hardly any regular time left to play but eight minutes of stoppage time added on. Hearts tried to get themselves back on terms and eventually threw everyone, including the goalkeeper forward which resulted in Osmand having an empty net to run towards before sealing the league title and setting off a pitch invasion. There was still a minute of added time left to play but with it quite clear that the game was done and that celebrations were already underway the referee ended the game.
That's now 14 of the last 15 titles for Celtic and it also ensures another year of Old Firm dominance in Scotland. Hearts came so close but once again fell at the very last hurdle.