Celtic wonder goal kills off Rangers' title hopes as gap closed on Hearts and Champions League slots confirmed

Celtic moved to within a point of Premiership leaders Hearts with a 3-1 win over Old Firm rivals Rangers at Parkhead.

In-form Japanese forward Daizen Maeda scored a brace for Celtic, the second of which was a spectacular overhead kick, as the defending champions recovered from going a goal down early on.

After Hearts drew 1-1 at Motherwell on Saturday night, Celtic knew that a victory was vital if they were to keep the pressure on the Tynecastle outfit going into the final two matches of the season. And they will have gained significant confidence and momentum from this result, one of their best of the season.

Celtic forward Daizen Maeda wheels away after scoring an overhead kick against Rangers. | SNS Group

Hearts remain top on 77 points with a goal difference of +32, with Celtic on 76 points (+29). Rangers’ defeat leaves them on 69 points. They are out of the title race and will finish third, meaning Hearts and Celtic are guaranteed Champions League qualifiers next season.

Rangers had entered the post-split matches with confidence after beating Falkirk 6-3, but have since lost to Motherwell, Hearts and now Celtic. Danny Rohl’s men started brightly, but once again wilted at a pivotal time in the match.

Rangers’ game at home to Hibs on Wednesday is now a dead rubber for the Ibrox club, but the two other top-six matches carry extreme weight on the same night. Hearts host sixth-placed Falkirk at Tynecastle, while Celtic travel to fourth-placed Motherwell. Hearts will win the title in midweek should they beat Falkirk and Celtic lose at Fir Park. The final match of what has been a gripping season is Celtic against Hearts in Glasgow on Saturday.

Rangers won at Celtic Park earlier in the campaign and made a dream start on nine minutes. Youssef Chermiti bullied Celtic defender Auston Trusty and while Liam Scales blocked the Portuguese striker’s shot, the ball fell kindly for Mikey Moore and he netted from close range.

Celtic rallied and were level on 23 minutes. Luke McCowan slipped Arne Engels in down the right with a neat pass and the Belgian’s cutback found Yang Hyun-jun and he converted from close range. Rangers claimed that their goalkeeper Jack Butland was impeded by the offside Celtic midfielder Benjamin Nygren but the goal survived a VAR check.

After the break, Celtic took a hold of the match and moved in front on 53 minutes. Kieran Tierney scampered on to a clipped ball and his low cross was netted by a sprawling Maeda from inside the penalty box.

His goal four minutes later was far prettier. In fact, it is a contender for goal of the season. Tuur Rommens blocked Sebastian Tounekti’s cross, but the ball looped up into the air and Maeda launched a bicycle kick that sailed past the stranded Butland and into the far corner of the net.

Rangers attempted a comeback, but the closest they came to scoring against was a stoppage-time Bojan Miovski that struck the crossbar and Celtic saw out what could prove to be a pivotal victory in this engrossing title race.