It was an afternoon to forget in Glasgow as Hearts fell to a 7-1 defeat to Celtic.
Kieran Tierney’s early opener set the tone for the day ahead as Benjamin Nygren and Callum Osmand’s double, plus a Jamie McCart own goal, had the hosts on easy street and although Laurent Mendy pulled one back, Camilo Duran added to Celtic’s tally after the restart, as did Nygren.
Head Coach Wouter Vrancken made three changes to the side that drew midweek against FC Nordsjælland. Stephen Kinkgsley came in for Harry Milne, Jordi Altena replaced the injured Christian Borchgrevink while Sabri Guendouz slotted in for James Wilson.
Hearts started brightly, pressing Celtic high up the park and going forward themselves when in possession. An early strong spell saw the ball fall to Kingsley inside the box but he blasted well over the target.
Moments later Liam Scales’ backpass completely missed his own goalkeeper, who had to scramble back to regain possession in the six-yard box as the ball headed towards an empty net.
With seven minutes on the clock the hosts took the lead. Mika Baur’s corner was flicked on by scales and Tierney was unmarked to nod home from close range.
Three minutes later it was 2-0. Another Celtic corner was flicked on at the front post and not cleared, with the ball falling to Nygren who wrapped his foot around it to send it into the bottom corner of the net.
Guendouz showed his attacking prowess by carrying the ball forward and into the Celtic box, a good 20-yards in total, keeping it away from green and white shirts before pulling the trigger but his low effort was stopped by Viljami Sinisalo.
The woodwork then came to Hearts’ rescue. Haissem Hassan cut in from the left before curling an effort from distance that came crashing back off Beau Reus’ left-hand post.
Nygren went close to grabbing his second of the afternoon when he got on the end of Hassan’s cutback inside the box but his shot was blocked by Reus’ outstretched leg.
Hearts’ best chance of the half came to McCart just before the half hour mark. He got on the end of the free kick to try and steer a header on target but the ball appeared to hit off his shoulder last, and quite possibly from an offside position, to fly past Sinisalo’s right-hand post.
It looked like game over by minute 36. A wayward pass gifted possession to Duran, who slipped Osmand into the box and he slotted beyond Reus for Celtic’s third.
Osmand got his second minutes later. More slack Hearts defending allowed Duran a shot at goal, and although Reus pulled off a good save, Duran was first to the loose ball to chip it across the six-yard box and Osmand was there to head into the net.
Mendy pulled one back before the half was out with a fantastic finish, nestling his low shot into the corner of the net to give the Jambos the faintest of hopes, but it was going to take a herculean second half performance to get back into the game.
There was time for one more goal and it was for the hosts. Baur waltzed his way through the Hearts defence before lifting the ball over Reus, and despite the best efforts of Kingsley and McCart on the line, it went in and down as a McCart own goal.
The game was put completely to bed five minutes into the restart, when Duran finished inside the box to make it 6-1.
Reus beat away a long-range Hassan effort before Nygren swung a free-kick narrowly wide of the left-hand post.
Substitute Sabah Kerjota showed good skill to weave his way to the edge of the box before firing a left-foot shot just over the crossbar.
Nygren added a late goal on what was a difficult day in Glasgow but attentions now turn to Trabzonspor in Thursday night’s UEFA Conference League match.
Celtic: Sinisalo, Scales, Nygren, Duran (Høgh, 60’), Osmand (Jota, 45’), Baur, Hassan (Forrest, 70’), McGregor (Oxlade-Chamberlain, 60’), Murray, Donovan, Tierney (Emenalo, 60’).
Subs: Johnstone, Trusty, Sørensen, Mheuka.
Hearts: Reus, Kingsley, McCart, McEntee (Magnusson, 45’), Miller (Mato, 54’), Braga (Ba-Sy, 72’), McPake (Kerjota, 54’), Guendouz, Altena, Fagan-Walcott, Mendy.
Subs: Fulton, Williams, Findlay, Milne, Wilson.
