Celtic 3-0 Hearts: Who’s Next?

By: JT | February 18th, 2008

Celtic handled a game Hearts squad 3-0 on Saturday, building on their confident form of late, and getting the Bhoys prepared for the Champions League showdown with Barcelona on Wednesday evening.

After the way Paul Hartley and Scott Brown ruled the midfield last week against Aberdeen, I was surprised to see Massimo Donati back in the lineup partnering Brown. It was an inspired move by WGS, because if Donati had played the full 90 he would have been my pick for Man of the Match.

The Bhoys dominated the early stages, with Shunsuke Nakamura’s free kick smashing the post and caroming off Scott McDonald’s body into the arms of Hearts keeper Steve Banks the highlight.

The pressure continued to build, and the breakthrough finally came on fourteen minutes. Naka’s free kick was headed clear and Aiden McGeady eventually ended up with possession and some space. A quick move got the Irish international in position to deliver a fine cross to the center of the box. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink met it with a strange looking toe-poke that just beat the diving Banks. 1-0 to the Bhoys.

Celtic took their foot off the accelerator a bit for the rest of the first half, as Hearts showed some guile. Stephen McManus was forced to head a goal bound shot over the crossbar from a tough angle, and Andrius Velicka shot into the side netting when it seemed easier to score.

Early in the second half, Hearts youngster Andrew Driver absolutely smoked Andreas Hinkel in a footrace down the right flank, but Artur Boruc was there as always. For a second I was terrified that I would see Messi doing that same thing midweek, but then I remembered that Hinkel is cup-tied for the Champions League. That’s a shame because the German looks pretty good thus far, save this incident.

Poor defending from Hearts allowed Scott McDonald to sneak his 24th goal of the season. The Aussie reacted quicker than the two defenders around him and the finish was easy, making it 2-0. Despite usually being the smallest player on the pitch, Skippy really has a knack for getting himself in the proper position for headers.

Boruc and McManus had some harsh words and a shove after a terrible clearance by Boruc almost led to a Hearts goal. It was bad form by the Holy Goalie. You look silly when you shove your captain during a match, especially when it was Boruc’s casual pass that was the problem in the first place.

Hinkel then scored his first goal in the Hoops to wrap the match up for Celtic. McGeady controlled Naka’s pass into the box well, made a slight move with the ball laying a perfect ball off to Hinkel who rocketed into the top left corner from a sharp angle.

Substitute Georgios Samaras just missed his second Celtic goal as time wound down when he drilled the post from distance. The Greek looks sharp, and his movement without the ball is excellent. But as long as Big Jan keeps scoring, he’ll be coming off the bench.

All in all this was a good but not great performance from Celtic. I think that’s a good thing because WGS can use some of the mistakes that were made to motivate the squad and keep them focused as the match with Barca draws closer and closer.

The highlights: