Celtic beat Hearts 7-1 at Celtic Park in the Scottish Premiership, moving four points clear of Rangers. Hearts had the opportunity to move two points behind the leaders with a win.
Fast start at Celtic Park
It was the first meeting between Celtic and Hearts since 16 May. Kieran Tierney scored in the 7th minute after a Mika Baur corner, and Benjamin Nygren scored in the 10th minute after another Mika Baur corner.
Callum Osmand scored twice in the first half, while Laurent Mendy scored for Hearts in the 41st minute. An own goal made it 5-1 before half-time.
Two more goals after the break
Celtic made it 6-1 in the 49th minute and completed the 7-1 scoreline late in the match.
Hearts had 20 shots at goal in the match.
O'Neill on the display and Hearts
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill described the result as "the perfect response to the disappointments in Europe. We had to make a statement today, and the lads did that brilliantly. As for Callum Osmand: I'm absolutely delighted with him. His movement before the goals, his hunger – he showed today why we rate him so highly. It was a ruthless attacking performance from the whole team."
Before the match, the 74-year-old had warned that Hearts were title contenders. He said: "I think they have what it takes, and I think they may want to make up for last season's results."
Baur on his contribution
Mika Baur called it a "perfect afternoon".
He added: "The atmosphere at Paradise was incredible today. We wanted to put pressure on them from the first second. At the corners, I knew exactly where the lads would make their runs. And before the break... I just saw the gap and wanted to chip the ball over the keeper."
GOAL reported that Baur moved from newly promoted Bundesliga side SC Paderborn to Celtic FC in the summer and made his first two senior appearances for Germany under national team coach Jürgen Klopp in the Nations League at the start of October. GOAL reported that the result was a response to Celtic's 4-1 defeat away to Benfica in Lisbon in the Europa League on Thursday.