Scottish Premiership: Celtic Beat Rangers 3-1 To Move Within Point Of Hearts

A sensational Daizen Maeda overhead kick helped propel Celtic within a point of Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts, as a compelling Old Firm derby ended with Rangers condemned to a third-place finish.

Maeda’s astonishing moment of quality, hooking the ball over his shoulder into the top left-hand corner of Jack Butland’s net, sealed a crucial comeback victory for the defending champions.

It also tightens up an epic title race, with Celtic a point behind Hearts with two games to play and the sides meeting in Glasgow in the final game of the season next Saturday.

And it confirms both Celtic and Hearts will be in the Champions League qualifiers next season.

Martin O’Neill’s side trailed to Mikey Moore’s early opener here but were level by the break when a fine move enabled Hyun-Jun Yang to equalise.

If the first period was evenly contested, the second was an altogether different story with Maeda the difference-maker.

Hearts host Falkirk on Wednesday, while Celtic travel to Motherwell. Then the top two meet at Parkhead on Saturday.