Celtic clinched the Scottish Premiership title on Sunday as Kyogo Furuhashi and Oh Hyeon-gyu netted in a 2-0 win at 10-man Hearts.
The victory secured the title with four games to spare for Ange Postecoglou’s men, who are on course for a domestic treble of trophies.
The Hoops have now won 11 titles in 12 years and could yet end the season by surpassing their record points tally of 106.
“I’m just really proud of this group of players and staff. They’ve maintained an absolutely ridiculous standard this year. They are relentless in their approach,” said Postecoglou.
“Having success last year, you always worry as a manager – are they going to be as hungry?
“From the first day, they haven’t let up and it’s a credit to every single one of them.”
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Kyogo Furuhashi and Liel Abada of Celtic celebrate.Source: Getty Images
Celtic were not at their sparkling best at Tynecastle, but Hearts were left with a mountain to climb when Alex Cochrane was sent off just before halftime.
Cochrane clipped Daizen Maeda as the Japanese international bore down on goal, but it took a VAR review for referee Nick Walsh to show the red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
The visitors took their time to make the man advantage count, but it was fitting that Kyogo should score the decisive goal in winning Celtic a 53rd Scottish title.
The Japanese striker prodded home his 30th goal of the season and 50th for the club from Reo Hatate’s cross 23 minutes from time.
Kyogo injured himself in the act of scoring but his replacement Oh came on to make sure of the points.
Ange Postecoglou has won four of the five domestic trophies on offer since his arrival – and another could come next month.Source: Getty Images
The South Korean international cushioned Aaron Mooy’s cross into the far corner for his fourth goal since arriving in January.
Celtic could also surpass a club record of 116 goals in a league season after reaching 105 with four games to spare.
“I think we can get there,” said Celtic captain Callum McGregor, who has now won 18 major honours.
“We are certainly on the right track but we need to keep going.
“You get over the line, you get more experience, you want to do it again and in more style. I feel like we’ve done that this season.”
Besides Mooy, who picked up his assist after coming on as a substitute, two other Australians were in action – Hearts starters Kye Rowles and Cam Devlin. Nathaniel Atkinson was an unused substitute and young loanee Garang Kuol did not make the Hearts squad.
Hearts’ hopes of finishing third behind the Old Firm were at least aided by Rangers’ 1-0 win over Aberdeen.
Todd Cantwell scored the only goal at Ibrox to cut Celtic’s lead at the top to 13 points.
Aberdeen remain five points ahead of Hearts after their first defeat in eight games.
It’s been an incredible weekend for Socceroos around the globe, with trophies raised, promotions secured, and goals galore.
However, there has been one sad injury update on an out-of-favour superstar, while another veteran copped an injury as well.
Here’s all the latest in our Roo Radar!
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MASSIMO LUONGO
The midfielder’s stratospheric rise in recent months at third-tier English side Ipswich Town has been one of the stories of the season.
And on Sunday, the fairytale had a perfect ending. Luongo played 75 minutes of a 6-0 win for Ipswich over Exeter City, a result that sees the Blues return to the Championship after a four-year absence.
Luongo scored a goal as he continued an unbelievable streak with the club. He has played 14 consecutive league games for Ipswich, and they’ve won 13 of those games with a draw in the other.
The team banked an incredible 43 goals scored and just two conceded during that streak, with Luongo striking twice himself.
In their three prior seasons in the third tier, the team finished 11th twice and ninth, making this year’s stunning rise to second place and automatic promotion even more impressive.
Having failed to play even a minute for Middlesbrough after an ill-fated move there at the start of the season, Luongo’s revival at Ipswich has suddenly put him back in the frame for a first Socceroos cap since 2019.
Making things even more special for Aussie fans, Luongo was joined by Connor Burgess, a 27-year-old Australian centre half who has played the full game in each of their incredible recent run of matches.
Burgess has played 37 games in all competitions this season despite suffering a facial fracture back in September.
TOM ROGIC
Another out-of-favour former Socceroos mainstay, Tom Rogic, is having a much harder time of it.
He played 32 of Celtic’s 38 league matches last season under Ange Postecoglou before a surprise departure that left him club-less until mid-September, when he signed at English second-division club West Bromwich Albion on a one-season deal.
But after promising flashes of brilliance in the first few weeks at the club, the playmaker has barely made an appearance in recent months.
He hasn’t started a match since January, was left out of the squad entirely for a seven-game stretch the following month, and has been given limited minutes off the bench since then.
In his last seven substitute appearances, only two have seen him play more than 20 minutes.
Now manager Carlos Corberan has revealed nerve pain in the player’s back has been a long-term problem robbing the Australian of more opportunities to make his mark.
Tom Rogic was a bright spark in his early games for West Bromwich Albion.Source: Getty Images
Corberan said: “It’s the fact that he’s had an injury. It has stopped him from being more of an alternative because there is no doubt that he was having more minutes before Christmas. It’s true that since then, the number of his minutes have reduced, but it’s more related to how physically he feels.
“He still doesn’t feel 100 per cent. He can train with the group, but he still has some pain in the back, in the nerve which connects the back and the hamstring. It isn’t something we consider to be a problem, but the pain doesn’t allow him to be at 100 per cent condition.
“At the end, if you’re not 100 per cent, you cannot train with the same intensity that you need to get, to play more minutes. That’s why I consider him a player who can still help us with minutes, still he is a player with a lot of quality and skill, but he’s a player who needs to manage because he’s not in a normal condition.”
The club has the option to extend Rogic’s contract by another season – and with the side currently fighting for Premier League promotion, that could even see the 30-year-old back in England’s top flight!
Given his current form and fitness issues, the club seems unlikely to pick up that contract option.
The international future is clouded for the player who missed the World Cup last year and hasn’t represented the Socceroos since February 2022.
AARON MOOY
Aaron Mooy continues to enjoy a dream campaign under Postecoglou at Celtic, with a trophy treble now well within reach.
Having already won the League Cup in February (Mooy started all four of Celtic’s games in that competition, including against Rangers in the final), the Hoops now sit a whopping 13 points clear of bitter rivals Rangers in the league with five games to play.
They could clinch the league – a second straight under Postecoglou – as early as this weekend.
Mooy came off the bench in that 1-0 win, the Australian’s 41st appearance of the season. He has racked up seven goals and 10 assists in that time, making it one of the 32-year-old’s finest years in his storied career.
Celtic face second-division Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the final of the Cup, which will be played at Hampden Park in Glasgow on Saturday, June 3 (local time).
That’s one week after the league concludes, meaning Postecoglou and Mooy could already have lifted two domestic trophies by then.
AWER MABIL
Awer Mabil came off the bench at half time before delivering a game-changing performance for AC Sparta Prague in Czechia.
The on-loan winger netted twice from the penalty spot in stoppage time – first the equaliser, then the go-ahead goal – to turn a draw into three points in a 3-1 win over Liberec.
Asked after the match if he had any nerves when he sent both penalties into the same spot, 27-year-old Mabil said: “No, no, we’ve been working so hard that when these moments come, I just know where to put it.
“And they went in today and the most important is the three points.
“We’re just fighting for that championship.”
His side face Slavia Praha in the cup final on Thursday morning (AEST) and currently sit two points above them in the league with five ‘championship round’ matches to go (against the other top-six teams).
AROUND THE GROUNDS
There’s been some fantastic performances from Australians elsewhere this weekend.
In Germany, FC St Pauli captain Jackson Irvine racked up another 90-minute performance to guide his team back into the winner’s circle 2-1 over Arminia. Fellow Aussie Connor Metcalfe came off the bench in the 66th minute. St Pauli is fifth in the second-tier with just four matches to go. The top two teams are automatically promoted, while the third-placed team plays off against the third-bottom team from the top flight to decide which team gets to play in the Bundesliga the following season.
St Pauli sit six points off the third-placed team.
Striker Nick D’Agostino had a goal and an assist for Norwegian club Viking FK in a bonkers 7-3 win over HamKam. He wasn’t the only Aussie to start and play a key role – Olyroos gun Patrick Yazbek picked up an assist in his 76 minutes on the park, while Gianni Stensness played the full 90 minutes.
Viking is third in the league after four rounds.
In France, Denis Genreau’s Toulouse beat Nantes 5-1 in the final of the Coupe de France to seal their first-every trophy and qualification to the Europa League. Genreau was an unused substitute but has featured 16 times in the league – France’s top division – this year.
In Korea’s second division, veteran forward Mitch Duke is back from injury and back making an impact, nabbing an assist in his 74 minutes for Machida Zelvia in a 2-1 win over Roasso Kumamoto.
There was more good news for young gun Alexander Robertson in Manchester City’s U21 team. Robertson started and got 45 minutes for the City U21s – picking up an assist to boot – in a 4-3 win over Wolves U21 on the weekend. It comes after City won the Premier League 2 Division 1 title last week.
But there was a worrying incident for one Socceroos defender, Milos Degenek, who was substituted just 13 minutes into Columbus Crew’s 2-1 defeat to Inter Miami in the MLS.
The centre-back – just days after his 29th birthday – appeared to suffer a leg injury.
