Hoops victory widens the gap at
top of the table
Celtic moved 10 points clear at the top of the SPL with a 2-1 win over
Kilmarnock on Sunday with Shunsuke Nakamura and Kenny Miller on the scoresheet.
Meanwhile both Hearts and Rangers could only manage 1-1 home draws to
leave them 10 and 12 points adrift of the Hoops respectively.
Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov will now have to put his money where his
mouth is after warning his players that failure to win would see them
all put up for sale.
The majority shareholder said the players would be sold to “Kilmarnock
or whatever club will take them” and added he would then play a
team of youngsters against Celtic the following weekend.
The Lithuanian naively believed he could replicate Roman Abramovich’s
achievements at Chelsea but despite Hearts’ undoubted success since
he took over he has failed to back up his ambition with cash for players.
Their record buy was the £835,000 signing of Mirsad Beslija from
Genk and the Belgian club claim they are still owed 80 per cent of that
transfer fee.
The mass sale at Tynecastle has yet to materialise so whether Romanov
carries out his further threat to field a youth side at Celtic on Saturday
remains to be seen. But with the turmoil currently gripping the Edinburgh
club Celtic will be confident of moving 13 points clear this weekend.
More pressing however is the Champions League clash with Benfica.
A win — coupled with any result for Manchester United against FC
Copenhagen — will ensure Celtic’s place in the group stages
for the first time.
The Portuguese suffered an injury-time defeat to Porto at the weekend
leaving them fifth in the table so they will be looking to focus on Europe
by exacting revenge for the humbling 3-0 defeat at Celtic Park.
However Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has reiterated that the SPL remains
his priority.
He said: “There are no more exciting nights than the European games
we have at Celtic Park.
“But you can only have those nights if you are the champions.”
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