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Celtic responded in emphatic fashion to last weekend’s shock defeat by hammering Kilmarnock 5–1 on Saturday, moving within touching distance of a fourth straight Scottish Premiership title.
Brendan Rodgers’ side were left stung by a surprise 1–0 loss to bottom club St. Johnstone, a result that delayed their title celebrations. Rodgers had publicly questioned his players’ mentality after that performance—but they offered the perfect response at Celtic Park.
The hosts raced into a 4–0 lead within the opening 24 minutes, with Reo Hatate scoring twice and further goals from Daizen Maeda and Cameron Carter-Vickers putting the match beyond doubt early on.
Kilmarnock’s Daniel Armstrong pulled one back before half-time, albeit in fortunate fashion, before Anthony Ralston completed the scoring in stoppage time to cap a dominant display.
Celtic could clinch the title as early as Sunday if Rangers, who trail by 16 points, lose away at Aberdeen.
“As unhappy as I was last week, I was really happy with that,” said Rodgers. “We needed a reaction. Being a Celtic player is about winning ambition and attitude—combine that with talent and you get what we saw today, especially in the first half.”
Rodgers had promised changes following the St. Johnstone defeat, despite his side’s commanding position in the league. He dropped Jota and Nicolas Kuhn to the bench among four changes to his starting eleven.
The tweaks worked almost instantly. Hatate opened the scoring with a fine long-range effort inside nine minutes. Maeda soon doubled the advantage with his 31st goal of the season after a slick team move.
Carter-Vickers made it three with a thunderous strike from outside the area before Hatate added his second to finish off another flowing passage of play.
Kilmarnock briefly threatened a response when Armstrong’s intended cross floated in over Viljami Sinisalo, but the visitors rarely troubled Celtic again. Killie shifted to damage-limitation mode in the second half as Celtic registered a season-high 1,020 passes—underlining their dominance.
Despite their control, the Bhoys had to wait until the third minute of added time to find a fifth, with Ralston calmly slotting in after being played through by Hatate.
The result leaves Kilmarnock just one point above the relegation play-off spot in ninth place, with the bottom three clubs separated by just a few points in a tense scrap for survival.
