Celtic win fourth straight Scottish Cup as Hazard’s shootout saves break Hearts | Football

As the dust settled on one of the more remarkable Scottish Cup finals, it was somewhat hard to decipher what it all means. A pre-Christmas switch back to season 2019-20 brought further domestic reward for Celtic, beating Hearts 4-3 on penalties, and the completion of a treble for the fourth time in succession. This came, however, while displaying the vulnerability that has left Neil Lennon under pressure in recent times.

If winning really is all that matters, Celtic can partake in celebration without a care about such reservations. The extent to which they rocked as Hearts – currently of Scotland’s second tier – applied pressure justifies sceptical glances. But in the moment, as emphasised by the scale of jubilation, Lennon and his players seemed merely concerned with the making of further history. Perhaps it would be churlish to deny them that. Big picture? Big deal.

The wackiness of this story is illustrated by the fact that two and three weeks earlier, police deemed it necessary to protect Celtic staff from protesting fans. At Hampden Park it was confetti, fireworks and euphoria.

Lennon is the first to secure trebles as both Celtic player and manager. “It’s a monumental achievement,” he said. “I would like to dedicate it to Dermot Desmond [Celtic’s main shareholder], Peter Lawwell [the chief executive] and the board for their unwavering support over the last few months. It’s been a difficult time and the players, they’ve been absolutely magnificent. They really felt it today, you could see that, the longer the game went on you could see the anxiety coming in and it showed. I even watched the penalties on a screen with our analyst, just the two of us, because I just wanted to watch in peace and quiet. This is now a dream come true.

“The weight of all this expectation has gone. We’re out of the League Cup [this season] and now we can just focus on the league and Scottish Cup again. Trophies aren’t easy to win, that’s 12 in a row and you’ll never see that again.” Those who place value in competition are entitled to hope so.

Hearts’ players discovered their own kaleidoscope of sentiment. If pride over their scale of performance is the cliched position, there will also inevitably be regret. In successive Scottish Cup finals albeit in entirely different circumstances, have faced a visibly fragile Celtic yet emerged with runners-up medals on both occasions. That may hurt more than back-to-back tankings.

Conor Hazard, Celtic’s 22-year-old goalkeeper, was to prove the hero in the shootout. Even that rather summed up the unorthodox nature of proceedings; Hazard’s nervousness had been key in raising the confidence of Hearts long before spot-kicks. The Edinburgh side looked favourites as their veteran and former Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon saved from Ryan Christie. That Stephen Kingsley and Craig Wighton subsequently watched tame efforts batted away by Hazard flipped the narrative. Kristoffer Ajer slammed home the decisive effort.

At half-time, it was impossible to foresee any requirement for a debate about whether or not Celtic must be more convincing. Christie’s superb 22-yard shot had earned them the lead in the 19th minute before Odsonne Édouard cheekily chipped a penalty beyond Gordon 10 minutes later – Christophe Berra had triggered the award with a handball. Hearts were largely architects of their own seeming downfall with a meek first-half display.

Whatever message Robbie Neilson delivered to the Hearts contingent during the interval, the impact was immediate. Within three minutes, Liam Boyce headed Andy Halliday’s cross past Hazard, before a Kingsley header from Josh Ginnelly’s corner was correctly adjudged by technology to have crossed the line. In between those goals, that Celtic’s two centre-backs – Shane Duffy and Christopher Jullien – crashed into each other to afford Ginnelly an opportunity was an indicator of panic. An enthralling second period should have been capped by a Hearts winner, Ginnelly instead blazing Olly Lee’s cross wildly over.

The redemption story looked like belonging to Leigh Griffiths, who stepped from among Lennon’s substitutes in extra-time to pounce on a blocked Scott Brown header with seconds remaining of the first period.

Hearts rose from the canvas again, Ginnelly atoning for his earlier wastefulness by stealing in to meet a Kingsley header with nine minutes of extra time left. Hazard had totally misjudged an inswinging Lee free-kick.

Steven Naismith, Michael Smith and Lee did their jobs from 12 yards before Gordon saved from Christie. As Kingsley and Wighton faltered, Mikey Johnston and Ajer strode forward to ensure the cup’s ribbons were of green and white variety.

“I thought we were absolutely outstanding,” said Neilson. “To come back in the second half and then recover in the second half of extra-time was phenomenal. It shows all these players are fighting for this club, it shows we can compete against one of the top teams in Scotland, it shows we should be coming to Hampden regularly.”