Sports

Celtic deny Hearts historic Scottish Premiership title with dramatic victory in decider

Published

3 hours ago

May 16, 2026

Celtic recorded a dramatic late 3-1 win to deny Hearts an historic Scottish Premiership title on Saturday.

Hearts had been on course to win the league for the first time since 1960 and end 41 years of Celtic and Rangers dominance in Scotland before Daizen Maeda’s 88th-minute goal put Martin O’Neill’s side 2-1 ahead. As Hearts pushed for an equaliser in the final stages, Celtic broke away and Callum Osmand rolled the ball into an empty net to secure a 3-1 win and a fifth successive Scottish Premiership title for the Glasgow side, triggering a pitch invasion from the home fans at Celtic Park.

Celtic’s controversial 3-2 win against Motherwell on Wednesday ensured the title would be decided on the final day, with Hearts travelling to Celtic Park needing to avoid defeat in order to win the league for the first time in 66 years.

And in a tense match in Glasglow, Celtic found came from behind to clinch a narrow victory.

Hearts opened the scoring on 43 minutes as captain Lawrence Shankland raced in at the back post to head Stephen Kingley’s free-kick into the net for his 20th goal of the season in all competitions.

Celtic equalised just five minutes later as Kieran Tierney’s cross was stopped by the arm of Alexandros Kyziridis. The resulting penalty was converted by Arne Engels, despite Hearts goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow diving the right way.

The hosts had a series of chances towards the end of the match, with Arne Engels flashing a free-kick just wide, before Kelechi Iheanacho hit the post with a low effort from just outside the box.

But they found the lead with just two minutes left of the 90. Osmand was played in behind, and he squared to Maeda to send Celtic Park into raptures. The goal was initially flagged offside, but the decision overturned following a VAR check. Osmand added a decisive third with the final kick of the game in the 98th minute.

Hearts led the Scottish Premiership since September, capitalising on Celtic and Rangers’ slow starts to the season. Both Old Firm sides recovered to mount a title challenge, but Rangers fell away following four successive defeats in the championship group, leaving Celtic and Hearts as the two contenders.

Celtic endured a turbulent start to the season as manager Brendan Rodgers resigned in October, and was described as “misleading” and having helped create a “toxic atmosphere by the club’s largest individual shareholder Dermot Desmond.

O’Neill, former Celtic manager of five years between 2000 and 2005, led Celtic to seven wins from eight matches in interim charge before Wilfried Nancy took over in December.

The Frenchman’s tenure lasted just 33 days, with six defeats in his eight matches, and O’Neill returned until the end of the season, helping Celtic to an improved 2026 which saw them return to title contention. With five wins from five in the championship group, Celtic finished on 82 points, two above second-placed Hearts.

Just how rare would Hearts’ Scottish Premiership title win have been?

By The Athletic’s Jordan Campbell

Since Alex Ferguson retained the title with Aberdeen in 1984-85 — the last time a non-Old Firm team were champions — Scottish football has become increasingly uncompetitive.

As the financial power of the league was left behind by the commercialisation of the English Premier League after it was founded in 1992, the gulf in budget between Scotland’s top two — Rangers and Celtic — and the rest has dramatically diverged.

Between 1975 and 1995, the Glasgow sides only finished first and second in four separate seasons. Dundee United and Aberdeen both topped the table in that time, with Hearts and Motherwell placing second. Only in 2006, and then again in 2017 and 2018 — two seasons when Rangers were rebuilding from four years in the lower divisions as a result of a financial crisis — has a team managed to break up the two teams from Glasgow when they were both in the top flight.

This sort of polarisation has afflicted many domestic European leagues, but Scotland may be the most extreme example.

The wage budgets of both Celtic and Rangers — who spent over £40million on transfer fees, let alone wages, since the 49ers Enterprises takeover last year — are between four and five times as large as that of Hearts. Upsets can happen in individual games. Knockout competitions can help inspire David to beat Goliath. Doing so often enough to matter over a 38-match league campaign is another matter.

Sports

Jhonatan Narvaez claims second stage win of 2026 Giro d’Italia

Published

4 minutes ago

May 16, 2026

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Giro d’Italia stage 8 results

1. Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 3hrs 27mins 26secs

2. Andreas Leknessund (Nor/Uno-X Mobility) +32secs

3. Martin Tjotta (Nor/Uno-X Mobility) +42secs

4. Thomas Silva (Uru/XDS Astana) +44secs

5. Lorenzo Milesi (Ita/Movistar) same time

6. Christian Scaroni (Ita/XDS Astana) +48secs

7. Corbin Strong (Nzl/NSN Cycling) +55secs

8. Juan Pedro Lopez (Spa/Movistar) same time

9. Wout Poels (Ned/Unibet Rose Rockets) +58secs

10. Markel Beloki (Spa/EF Education – EasyPost) +1min

Giro d’Italia general classification results after stage 8

1. Afonso Eulalio (Por/Bahrain-Victorious) 34hrs 28mins 42secs

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +3min 15secs

3. Felix Gall (Aut/Decathlon) +3min 34secs

4. Christian Scaroni (Ita/XDS Astana) +4min 18secs

5. Jai Hindley (Aus/Red Bull – BORA) +4min 23secs

6. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita/Red Bull – BORA) +4min 28secs

7. Ben O’Connor (Aus/Team Jayco AlUla) +4min 32secs

8. Mathys Rondel (Fra/Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +4min 56secs

9. Thymen Arensman (Ned/Netcompany Ineos) +5mins 7secs

10. Michael Storer (Aus/Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +5min 11secs

Sports

Mohamed Salah says Liverpool must return to “heavy metal” football

Published

14 minutes ago

May 16, 2026

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Salah, who announced his decision to leave Anfield in March, told reporters in December that his relationship with head coach Slot had broken down.

The winger, winner of a record four Premier League Golden Boot awards, scored 29 times in the 2024-25 Premier League as the Reds won the title in Slot’s first season in charge.

But he has been unable to match the heights of last term, finding the net just 12 times in 40 games across all competitions this season before his final game against Brentford next Sunday.

It was under previous manager Klopp that Liverpool were associated with “heavy metal” football – a term the German used to describe his high-energy, counter-pressing style of play.

“Winning some games here and there is not what Liverpool should be about. All teams win games,” Salah said.

“Liverpool will always be a club that means a great deal to me and to my family. I want to see it succeed for long after I have moved on.

“As I’ve always said, qualifying to next season’s Champions League is the bare minimum and I will do everything I can to make that happen.”

Below Salah’s post, Liverpool team-mates Curtis Jones and Hugo Ekitike commented with applauding and handshake emojis respectively.

Reds defender Andrew Robertson, who will also leave the club this summer, wrote similarly on Instagram: “A performance which sums up our season. A long way short of the levels of this club and what you rightly expect of us.”

On a personal note, he added: “But I can only thank you for the last nine years of travelling up and down the country and all over the world packing out away ends wherever we go! Will see you next week for one last time.”

Former Feyenoord boss Slot has suggested the summer transfer window will be critical for him.

Speaking about supporter frustration after Friday’s defeat, he said: “I think then they are underestimating what a window can do, what a new start can do, and I think we know quite well what to improve.

“I think one of the things we have to improve is also very, very, very obvious, and I would have preferred not to talk about it here, but you’re actually almost forcing me to.

“If you miss nine players that can start a game of football, and almost all of them are starters for us or have been for large part of the season, then if you add that to what you can improve in a window and add that to players that are playing for the second season in the Premier League, that will automatically lead to much more.”

Sports

Women’s Super League: Why summers of change beckon for Arsenal and Chelsea

Published

21 minutes ago

May 16, 2026

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Chelsea entered Saturday sitting two points behind Arsenal and ended it in the same place.

By half-time of the fixtures on the final day it became apparent they had little to play for given Arsenal were already three up at Liverpool, eventually winning 3-1, with Alessia Russo scoring twice.

At Stamford Bridge meanwhile, Kerr marked her final appearance with a fine finish for the game’s only goal against Manchester United.

That goal was her 116th for the club, equaling Fran Kirby’s record for the most goals for Chelsea in all competitions.

Kerr, who has been linked with a move to the United States, said it has been the “biggest honour” to play for Chelsea.

“I have so many amazing memories and I will carry them with me forever,” she told Sky Sports. “Chelsea and London will always be home to me now.

“My little boy was born here and I have so many great friends at this amazing club. It’s going to be hard to leave but I only have good things to say about this amazing club.”

Arsenal have now got the better of Chelsea on two fronts this season, both knocking them out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals and preventing them reaching it automatically next year.

While being unable to catch City may leave a sour note for the Gunners, their league performance this season was better than last year as they picked up three more points across the campaign.

McCabe managed an assist in her last game for the club and expressed her joy at captaining the side for one last time before she departs.

“I was just enjoying every second of it,” she said. “My team talk was to go out and enjoy it and play the Arsenal way, play our football, and we certainly did it. We were playing with smiles on our faces. I’m just delighted I could end with a win.”

Both sides will rebuild in the summer, with Chelsea needing a striker to replace Kerr. They are favourites to sign Manchester City’s out-of-contract Khadija Shaw.

Arsenal, meanwhile, will likely seek squad depth to help them cope more easily with a cramped fixture schedule next season.

They too have been heavily linked with some big signings, including Bayern Munich and England midfielder Georgia Stanway and Barcelona full-back Ona Batlle.