Rodgers is delighted as his Hoops light up Celtic Park with dazzling display of firepower
celtic 5 Edouard (17, 38), Benkovic (26), Forrest (65), Christie (90, pen) hearts 0
Celtic fans waiting to experience the club’s new £2.3 million entertainment system will have to hang on until Thursday night.
The state-of-the-art light and sound show – “disco lights” to pundit Chris Sutton – will be unveiled as a curtain raiser for the Europa League tie against Leipzig.
Yesterday, though, there were plenty of sparkling pyrotechnics of the football variety to keep supporters happy in the meantime.
A double from Edouard Odsonne and single for Filip Benkovic – his first for the club – James Forrest and Ryan Christie made it five Premiership wins on the spin.
And if the Germans will provide Hoops with tougher opposition than they are used to in their domestic environment, the haul of 21 goals over the piece is a source of no little encouragement for manager Brendan Rodgers.
“A joy to watch,” he purred. “Our performance level was fantastic and all in all it was a great victory.
“For me, the game today and the other results in the past week, have shown the level these players have been at for the last two-and-a-half years.
“We’ve taken hits in Europe and there isn’t a midweek when we don’t have a game.
“But to keep coming back with that hunger is great.
“It’s a good Hearts team, with Craig doing a great job there, setting them up to be very difficult to beat.
“We were really aggressive in our defending and then created good opportunities.
“We took five and if we had a better final pass it could have been a few more. So it was an outstanding team performance.”
Celtic established their lead in the first quarter through a beauty from club record signing Edouard.
The £9 million Frenchman collected a pass from Scott Sinclair just outside the box, worked half a yard for himself from his marker, Peter Haring,
then curled a right-foot shot in off the underside of the crossbar.
It was a stunning score, reminiscent of the sort of goals with which Moussa Dembele used to light up Celtic Park, and it had been coming.
Ryan Christie had one effort saved by Bobby Zlamal then, minutes later, fired another just wide of the keeper’s right-hand post.
One brings two is a well-known phrase in cricket to denote the quick fall of wickets and it proved true here with Hearts conceding a rapid second with a loss of concentration.
From Calum McGregor’s corner, Filip Benkovic was allowed to dart in to the front post and leap unchallenged.
His decent contact with his head gave him his first goal for the club.
By half-time it was three. Kieran Tierney sent an inviting cross just inside the Hearts six-yard line and Edouard darted in and stabbed out a foot to grab his second of the day.
In the second half, the French striker turned provider when rolling a pass into the feet of James Forrest.
With his back to goal, the latter still had plenty to do but he was clearly in the mood to do plenty and he spun in a tight circle before shooting with precision into the far corner.
A terrific 25-yard effort from Hearts substitute Ben Garuccio which fairly fizzed past Craig Gordon deserved to earn his side a consolation, but to the Celtic keeper’s delight it struck the base of his far post and came straight back out again.
Craig Wighton’s foul on Forrest gave Ryan Christie the chance to tie a bow on the result from the penalty spot and he accepted it gratefully, slotting home for 5-0.