Jubilation, excitement, emotion and joy – Rod celebrates Celtic’s league title

What a season finale. Celtic Football Club have actually managed it, crowning themselves Scottish football champions for the 56th time and becoming the sole record title holders ahead of their arch-rivals Rangers. In a fast-paced and fiercely contested match that went beyond 90 minutes, the reigning and new champions beat Hearts of Midlothian 3-1 (1-1), thereby climbing to the top of the table on the final matchday. Hearts thus missed out on their first championship in 66 years literally at the last second.
When Callum Osmand slotted the ball into the empty net in the seventh minute of stoppage time to seal the victory, the stands erupted. The fans poured onto the pitch, hugging their heroes in green and white wherever they could catch them on the now overcrowded turf. The match hadn’t even been blown off yet, but there was no question of play resuming for those final seconds. Referee Donald Robertson then did the only right thing and blew the final whistle.

On the pitch, the players danced with the fans; title-winning manager Martin O’Neill threw his arms around his coaching staff, and what was our Rod actually doing?
Well, he’d already shot up from his seat like a rubber ball after the decisive 2-1 goal by the Japanese player Daizen Maeda (87th minute), literally leapt into his son Alistair’s arms and then gave a seemingly endless round of applause for his Hoops. Before that, however, his hopes of winning the title had been put to the test.

For Hearts were the strong opponents everyone had expected – it was no coincidence that the men from Edinburgh had been at the top of the table for many weeks. A draw would have been enough for the visitors to secure the title, and just before half-time they came very close to it when Lawrence Shankland capitalised on a mistake by Celtic keeper Viljami Sinisalo and scored from a corner to put them ahead. The fans – with the exception of the Hearts supporters – had their beer catch in their throats, and Rod too slumped right down in his seat. Shock-induced silence at Celtic Park – but not for long. For in stoppage time of the first half, the referee rightly awarded the Hoops a penalty following a handball by Hearts defender Kyziridis, which Belgian Arne Engels converted to make it a much-celebrated 1-1 at half-time (45+4). That’s what you’d call a psychologically opportune moment in a match.

Buoyed by this, the defending champions started the second half in fine form. The home side now had a clear advantage and pushed the visitors from the Scottish capital further and further back. Yet the decisive goal simply refused to come. In the end, it became a race against time. The clock ticked relentlessly towards the final whistle, with just a few minutes separating Hearts from victory.

Then, in the 87th minute: Marcelo Saracchi played a through ball into the left side of the box for Osmand, who crossed immediately from near the byline. Maeda got his foot to it on the five-yard line and steered the ball into the right-hand corner. HoM keeper Alexander Schwolow was beaten, and the stands were now in a frenzy.

But the Celtic fans still had time to bite their nails. The fourth official signalled eight minutes of added time, and the visitors threw everything forward once more in the extra time. The home side were simply clearing the ball as far as possible from their own penalty area; the main thing was to get rid of it. In the very last minute, one of these clearance attempts reached Osmand, who slipped past the Hearts defence, which had pushed far forward, and, after a sprint across half the pitch, slotted the ball into the empty net.
This goal sparked the scenes of jubilation described at the outset. On the pitch, in the stands and, of course, in the VIP boxes, where Sir Rod has his seat for life, people embraced one another, repeatedly raised their fists in the air and sang along loudly to the hits played by the stadium sound system.

It turned into a party in green and white, which was crowned long after the final whistle by the presentation of the trophy to Celtic captain Callum McGregor. After numerous lap of honour, the celebrations moved from the stadium into the city and the surrounding pubs. No doubt Sir Rod, too, will have enjoyed a drink or two at the end of this memorable afternoon to celebrate his Hoops’ triumph. Slàinte, Rod! Slàinte, Celtic!