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Celtic wins Scottish Premiership, handing Ange Postecoglou back-to-back titles

Ange Postecoglou's stunning time as Celtic coach continued with a second title. (Getty Images: Ian MacNicol)

Australian coach Ange Postecoglou is just one win away from a historic treble with Celtic, after the Glasgow giants won back-to-back titles, with a 2-0 win against Hearts.

Celtic clinched the second leg of its latest bid for three domestic trophies in one season by retaining the league title with four games to spare.

"I'm just really proud of this group of players and staff," Postecoglou told the BBC.

"They've maintained an absolutely ridiculous standard this year. They are relentless in their approach.

"Having success last year, you always worry as a manager: 'Are they going to be as hungry?'

"From the first day, they haven't let up and it's a credit to every single one of them."

Celtic now have 53 league titles in their history — only two off Rangers' record haul of 55 — after winning a 11th championship in the past 12 years.

The victorious team had already won the Scottish League Cup, beating Rangers 2-1 in the final in February, and plays Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish FA Cup final on June 3 in an attempt to complete the treble.

Winning the Scottish FA Cup would hand Celtic a fifth domestic treble in the past seven seasons.

The treble is not an unfamiliar achievement for Celtic though: They achieved that feat every year from 2017 to 2020.

Celtic have only lost one of their 34 league games this season — at St Mirren in September — leading to something of a procession towards the title that has felt like a foregone conclusion for weeks, if not months.

There was little danger of a second league defeat after Hearts defender Alex Cochrane was sent off in the 45th minute at Tynecastle, with the score at 0-0.

Japanese striker Kyogo Furuhashi bundled in the opening goal in the 67th and had to go off moments later with an injury sustained in the act of scoring.

South Korean striker Oh Hyeon-gyu then glanced in the second goal in the 80th to secure victory for Celtic and a second straight league title under Postecoglou.

The only other team to win a Scottish league title since 2012 was Rangers, in 2021, when Liverpool great Steven Gerrard was manager of the team in the blue half of Glasgow.

That prevented an unprecedented 10th straight league title for Celtic, which has bounced back with two in a row.

AP/ABC

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