Celtic 4-0 Kilmarnock: Champions open title defence with dominant victory

Celtic kicked off their Scottish Premiership title defence with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Kilmarnock on Sunday.

Reo Hatate opened the scoring after simply 17 minutes, making no mistake from the sting of the realm to elevate the spirits of an expectant Celtic Park crowd.

Additional jubilation adopted as Liam Scales doubled the lead 5 minutes earlier than the break, heading Matt O’Riley’s nook previous the helpless Robby McCrorie, who had twice denied Nicolas Kuhn moments earlier.

Scales virtually added to his personal account, and prolonged Celtic’s lead, within the second half, just for Oliver Bainbridge to clear off the road after McCrorie was once more crushed from a nook.

But Bainbridge was left wanting quickly after as his deflection helped Kuhn discover the again of the online following a weaving run inside from the touchline simply earlier than the hour.

Substitute Anthony Ralston then added a late fourth within the third minute of stoppage-time as Brendan Rodgers’ facet began their seek for a thirteenth top-flight title in 14 seasons with ease.

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— Celtic Soccer Membership (@CelticFC) August 4, 2024

Knowledge Debrief: Enterprise as ordinary for Hoops

Reigning Scottish champions have now received their first match in every of the final 13 seasons, with Rangers the final such group to fail when drawing 1-1 with Hearts again within the 2011-12 marketing campaign.

Celtic have additionally received their league opener in 16 of the final 17 seasons, shedding the opposite 2-1 away to Hearts within the 2021-22 season.

This victory got here as no shock, although, as when at house for his or her home curtain-raiser, the Hoops are unbeaten in 35 such video games (W31 D4) since a 4-3 defeat to Morton in 1950-51.

Sunday additionally continued a powerful head-to-head file, with Celtic solely shedding one of many 12 earlier events that they’ve confronted Kilmarnock on the primary matchday of a league season (W9 D2).