Celtic boss Neil Lennon has slammed Hearts’ Marcel Langer for his tackle on Scott Brown that saw him sent off late on at Parkhead last night.
The Hoops gave the Jambos a real going over. 5-0 was the score and it wasn’t flattering either. Goals from Olivier Ntcham, Christopher Jullien, Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie, and Jozo Simunovic did the business to extend our lead at the top of the Premiership table to 10 points.
However, Langer’s red card was a needless flashpoint as he lunged in on Brown with his studs showing. The incident occurred with the game into the final five minutes and with the contest effectively dead.
And Lennon, speaking after the contest in comments published in the Scottish Sun, slammed the challenged by the Hearts new-boy:
“The referee got the red right because that was horrendous and could have done serious damage to Scott. Thankfully he’s alright.”
Red card a sign of the hammering Celtic gave Hearts
With the way Hearts were going about their business last night, it’s not surprising that they did end up going down to 10 men.
Willie Collum had already allowed Craig Halkett to get away with several nasty ones, whilst the likes of Steven Naismith and John Souttar also had their over-aggressive moments.
Langer’s sending off, however, perhaps symbolised just how much of a hammering Celtic gave Hearts. The Jambos had a late flurry towards the end of the first half, but outside of that they just couldn’t deal with such an irresistible Celtic display.
Thankfully, Brown managed to get up as he appeared to avoid contact with Langer. However, the intent shown by the Hearts man was pretty concerning, as he seemed to go all-in on leaving something on our captain.
Celtic will have to get used to this kind of rough treatment with the goals we’re racking up. That’s now 27 goals since the winter break ended, and that kind of dominance is going to bring unwarranted physicality from furious rivals.
Langer’s challenge was a shocker, but thankfully Willie Collum saw sense and sent him packing.
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