Sparkling Celtic on brink of title as unlikely goalscorer nets worldy Kompany strike - over to Rangers now

Celtic stand on the brink of officially retaining their Scottish Premiership crown after a crushing 5-1 home win over Kilmarnock.

A double from Reo Hatate, a stunning strike from centre-half Cameron Carter-Vickers, Daizen Maeda’s 31st goal of the season and a stoppage-time effort from Anthony Ralston gave Brendan Rodgers’ men a convincing victory over Killie, who responded with a goal from Danny Armstrong after falling 4-0 down inside the first 24 minutes.

Celtic have now moved 16 points clear at the top of the Premiership and will be crowned champions on Sunday afternoon if nearest challengers Rangers are beaten by Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

Cameron Carter-Vickers is mobbed by his Celtic teammates after scoring a stunning strike against Kilmarnock. | SNS Group

This was an excellent response from Celtic after they surprisingly lost 1-0 to bottom club St Johnstone last weekend at McDiarmid Park. That result brought criticism from their fans and manager Rodgers, who does not want his players’ standards to slip in the home straight of the campaign.

Celtic were rampant at the beginning of the match, with the pick of goals coming from American defender Carter-Vickers when he lashed home an unstoppable strike from distance to net his first of the season. It was an effort reminiscent of another centre-half in Vincent Kompany when he scored a crucial goal for Manchester City in their EPL title run in 2019 against Leicester City.

Maeda had a goal disallowed for offside just before the break and in the second half, Kilmarnock were a lot more competitive and managed to restrict the hosts until stoppage time, when substitute Ralston scored from close range to cap off an excellent afternoon.

While almost everyone would concede that the league crown has been Celtic’s for some time now, there is a decent chance they could be coronated without kicking a ball on Sunday. Rangers are without several first-teamers and focusing on next Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final against Athletic Bilbao, with the tie delicately poised at 0-0 following the first leg at Ibrox.