Celtic fans turned their wrath on the board as Hearts’ 2-0 win at Parkhead consigned the Hoops to back-to-back league defeats for the first time in a decade.
First-half goals from Lawrence Shankland and Stephen Kingsley earned Hearts their first league win at Celtic Park since 2007.
Shankland’s free header and Kingsley’s 25-yard free-kick saw Hearts end a 14-match losing run at Celtic Park and secure their first win at Parkhead in 25 games, since Michael Stewart’s penalty earned a League Cup win in 2009.
Celtic’s defeat, on the back of last weekend’s loss at Kilmarnock, leaves them five points ahead of Rangers in the cinch Premiership but their Glasgow rivals have two games in hand. It was March 2013 when they last lost consecutive league games, against Motherwell and Ross County.
With the Green Brigade ultras group still banned, the atmosphere among the home fans was again flat but it turned angry for a spell late in the second half as Celtic toiled.
One fan in the main stand sparked wider dissent when he shouted towards the Celtic directors, leading to chants of “sack the board” from around the stadium and more personal songs aimed at chairman Peter Lawwell.
The club’s summer recruitment again came into question with only one of their eight summer signings among the 16 players to feature.
Hearts won comfortably in the end to give manager Steven Naismith a positive end to a week in which his results and style of play came under criticism at the club’s annual general meeting. The Gorgie side moved up to third after scoring more than once in the league for only the third game this season.
The home side threatened first when Greg Taylor saw a powerful first-time strike from 25 yards pushed over but Hearts were ahead in the 15th minute.
Jorge Grant’s deep corner found Shankland completely unmarked and the Scotland striker bulleted a header into the roof of the net to net his 13th goal for Hearts this season.
Celtic pressed without testing Zander Clark and Hearts doubled their lead in the 30th minute after Cameron Carter-Vickers was penalised for a challenge on Nathaniel Atkinson. Kingsley again showed his dead-ball prowess as he curled the ball over the wall and into the corner of the net.
Celtic showed some urgency in response. David Turnbull’s left-footed strike forced a good save from Clark and Kyogo Furuhashi set up Luis Palma for what looked a certain goal until Kingsley threw himself at the shot to block.
Hearts continued to ask questions of their hosts, mostly from corners, and Rodgers made three changes at the start of the second half.
Anthony Ralston replaced Alistair Johnston, striker Oh Hyeon-gyu came on for midfielder Turnbull and Daizen Maeda made his comeback from a knee injury to replace Mikey Johnston.
The latter had been on the end of much of the Celtic support’s frustration as he struggled to make an impact, although Joe Hart twice incurred wrath for punching crosses he could have caught.
Hearts were forced into one switch as Toby Sibbick replaced the injured Kingsley.
Celtic had a couple of half chances as Frankie Kent put in a brilliant challenge on Oh and Furuhashi shot over, but there was little sign of a comeback.
Left-back Alexandro Bernabei came on for winger Palma for only his fourth appearance of the season and the Argentinian soon put in two poor crosses before James Forrest’s 71st-minute introduction for Taylor saw him revert to his normal position.
That was the final throw of the dice from Rodgers and Oh missed a decent chance to spark some life into the game when he was well wide from Forrest’s cutback.
Al Ittihad 1-2 Al Hilal: Holders into King's Cup final
Al Hilal overcame Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's red card as Saud Abdulhamid's late goal sealed a 2-1 victory over Al Ittihad in the King's Cup semi-finals.
Without Karim Benzema, Al Ittihad ultimately lacked the firepower to make their numerical advantage count in Tuesday's clash.
Former Lazio midfielder, who joined Al Hilal as part of their spending spree last year, received a straight red card in the 42nd minute.
Al Ittihad's Abderrazzaq Hamed-Allah cancelled out Micheal's opener, but Abdulhamid popped up with the winner in the 81st minute.
Al Hilal are 10-time King's Cup winners, having won their 10th title last season.
The Saudi Pro League leaders, who are still without the injured Neymar, will now face either Al Khaleej or Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr in the final at the end of May.
Data Debrief: Malcom in the middle
Al Hilal might be missing their star Brazilian Neymar, but his compatriot Malcom is delivering when it comes to playmaking.
The former Zenit attacker set up both of Al Hilal's goals, creating three chances in total and registering a pass accuracy of 92.6 per cent, better than any of his team-mates.
Former Spain boss Del Bosque to oversee RFEF
Former Spain boss Vicente del Bosque will oversee a new committee supervising the RFEF.
Spain, which is due to be one of six host countries for the 2030 World Cup, announced the creation of a special committee until the federation holds elections to replace Luis Rubiales.
That is despite Pedro Rocha having this week been appointed as Rubiales' replacement, though he himself is under investigation amid a corruption probe.
Rubiales was dismissed following his unsolicited kiss on Jenni Hermoso during the Women's World Cup trophy ceremony in 2023.
The federation's former president was then arrested in early April as part of a corruption investigation.
Del Bosque led Spain to three consecutive trophies, winning the European Championships in 2008 and 2012, while also leading the team to their first World Cup success in 2010.
Prior to his time with the national team, he also won two Champions Leagues and two LaLiga titles while in charge of Real Madrid, where he made over 400 appearances as a player.
Preston 0-3 Leicester City: Foxes seal Championship title in style
Leicester City cruised to a 3-0 win over Preston in the Championship on Monday to clinch the title with a game to spare.
Jamie Vardy was the star for the Foxes as he scored in both halves before Kasey McAteer made sure of the points with an unmarked header.
Abdul Fatawu had the chance to cap an already memorable night for the travelling fans but hit the post with his curler.
Preston slumped to a fourth consecutive defeat, while Leicester go into their final game against Blackburn Rovers with the knowledge that they will lift the trophy after the final whistle.
Data Debrief
Jamie Vardy has scored 18 goals this season (two in this game), more than any other Leicester player in the competition. He has also netted in his last three games, scoring four goals in total.
It was a dominant performance from the Foxes, who had 19 shots with 11 of those on target. At the other end, Preston only managed to test Jakub Stolarczyk once from their five attempts.
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