2017-12-17: Hearts 4-0 Celtic, SP

Match Pictures | Matches: 2017 – 2018 | 2017-18 Pictures

Trivia

• Celtic's record run of 69 games unbeaten ended. A UK record. British record 69 games without defeat 56 matches without reverse in the league
• A UK record which was previously 62 games also by Celtic.
• Hearts largest win over Celtic in over 100 years.
• Central defenders both in the red after this game, very poor and has been a concern for a long while now.
  
• Police Scotland have confirmed they are investigating a disgusting slur made towards Leigh Griffiths on Twitter. He called out a user who tweeted “I cannot wait til your four children die” as Celtic lost to Hearts at Tynecastle. The account has since been deleted. Threats also made against Jay Beatty (widely known Celtic fan), and he is just a kid.
  
• After the defeat, Brendan Rodgers kept players on the pitch and did a huddle and took them up to the supporters in the away end who stayed en mass to applaud the players. It was a glorious moment and tribute.
• Celtic suffer their first defeat to a Scottish club since David Cameron was Prime Minister, Barack Obama was President, Louis van Gaal was Man Utd manager, Guus Hiddink Chelsea manager & Muhammed Ali, Fidel Castro & Zsa Zsa Gabor were alive.
• Celtic have scored a big own goal after sending out a mass mail telling all season ticket holders that only they and nobody else should use their ticket, and if they hand it to another it can be checked for photo ID verification or a £20 transfer ticket must be paid. PR disaster but there is some likely legal cover your back reason behind the letter. Still it was handled badly.
• Brendan Rodgers has warned his players fatigue will be no excuse for failure to maximise their advantage at the top of the Premiership during a hectic December.
• Man City are understood to be lining up a bid of around £70 million ex-Celt Virgil Van Dijk, according to The Times. Will mean £7m for Celtic.
• West Brom and Ireland star James McClean has revealed he would love to feature for Celtic at some point in his career. Speaking to the Celtic View about the 2-1 victory over Barcelona in 2012, McClean said: “I missed the second goal. I was trying to get back down to Sunderland for training next morning and as I left the ground, I heard the place erupt.” “I remember saying to my wife, while I have always wanted to play for Celtic, I wanted to do it even more so that night. Leaving the ground that night, I was thinking, ‘I would give anything to play for Celtic’.”
• Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers wants to sign Charly Musonda on loan from Chelsea and Marvin Compper from RB Leipzig early on in the January transfer window, according to reports.
• Celtic fans have expressed their dissatisfaction on social media after learning the cost for season ticket holders to attend the Europa League match with Zenit St Petersburg.Adults will have to pay £35 for the first leg encounter, with concessions having to cough up £22 and under-13s £18. Having been made to pay high prices for the club’s Champions League games, many fans were hoping the cost would come down.

Review

"The players will go down in history because I don’t think it will be done again.”
Brendan Rodgers

"Celtic fans stayed right to the end and applauded the team off. Class."
Patrick Barclay (sports journalist)

Brendan Rodgers on post-match huddle "It was just a case of saying remember what this feels like – that it obviously hurts – but also to remind them that what they've done is incredible."

(danbhoy 67 of KDS)
First things first, Hearts were far and away the better team and thoroughly deserved their win . That said, I feel it's quite correct to ask a few questions regarding the manner in which we lost the game. Most of us seem to agree a defeat was coming due to a very obvious dip in the form of some players who are better than they have been showing lately . I vividly remember Big Jock answering a reporter when He was asked what EXCUSE He had for what was a poor performance from Celtic ? His reply was that never in his life had He looked for excuses, He always looked for reasons !

So for what it's worth here's my take on things . First thing to say is the defensive frailties simply have to be addressed, that I think, would be something the vast majority of us would agree on . The absolute trouncings we got in the CL section were obviously in some part due to the quality of opposition but were still far from acceptable. We've just shipped 4 goals to a mid- table SPL team, lost a two goal lead to Hibs and alarmingly leave the door open on a regular basis.

Fatigue ? yes I think it's a fair argument . To me some of the players do look jaded . Consider the number of games played already this season and then add to that the very short break after what was a long season last time and it's easy to think it could be a factor . This brings into sharp focus the importance of the remaining games to be played in December . Winning them all would make life a whole lot more pleasant going into the break, dropping more points would give the teams chasing us a a lift. The break is much needed .

Let's all ditch the complacency and get behind the team to help drive them on to what could be a make or break month .

(Peco of KDS)
So, 69 games after the journey started, we lost our unbeatable domestic tag. Lost in all the hysteria is that we never lost our Invincibles tag; we never will as that is carved in history.

Defeat, as difficult as it is at the time, is inevitable in any sport. The best you can hope for is that it doesn’t materially impact you. In terms of perspective, this was no Fir Park 2005.

Sure our unbeaten domestic record has gone and in truly spectacular fashion. This wasn’t the Hertz robbery of Hampden 2012, cheated out of a cup final place; it was an absolute pumping from a gastropub team that will almost certainly never achieve those heights again in their next 69 domestic matches. The diet Huns will be loving it and, in truth, probably will be their revenge for 1986. They will dine out on it for years, in their parochial and myopic way – I, for one, have no issues with that. It wouldn’t surprise me if their commercial manager was tearing his/her hair out that they couldn’t get a DVD of it released in time for Christmas.

We also had the ridiculous situation whereby this unbeaten run was becoming a heavier weight to carry forward each match. At the same time, some Celtic fans were conducting a ludicrous vanity parade, trying to select who or where they would prefer our moment of failure/abject failure/comeuppance/honest mistake to host our downfall.

It’s only a matter of historical record that it St.Johnstone were the last team to meet us domestically. That one didn’t hurt, the one that mattered previously (when Ronny capitulated to an average, salivating and rabid Hunnery) changed the course of events and was the catalyst for change that allowed us to enjoy the best domestic dominance in our history. Similarly, today, if you’re going to lose, do it and make sure it hurts.

We all knew this day was coming. If it is the catalyst for change in personnel, 2 weeks ahead of a transfer window, then I’ll accept the defeat. Sure, the margin and manner of defeat hurts but sometimes you just can’t keep papering over the cracks. Hopefully, a few in the team will be tasting how defeat really should – I hope that was Brendan’s huddle speech.

Our history is blessed with beautiful memories – the 69 unbeaten run is up there. All of those Celtic players on that pitch contributed to that astonishing achievement. Let’s salute that.

Hail Hail.

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Articles

Hearts failure – Celtic's unbeaten run over at 69 games
Updated / Sunday, 17 Dec 2017 14:53
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017/1217/928018-hearts-failure-celtics-unbeaten-run-over-at-69-games/
Hearts ended Celtic's 69-game unbeaten domestic run in stunning fashion with a 4-0 hammering of the Ladbrokes Premiership champions at Tynecastle.

A much-changed home side surged into a two-goal interval lead as 16-year-old Harry Cochrane fired in his first goal for the Edinburgh club in the 26th minute before former Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty added a second with a fine finish nine minutes later.

Attacker David Milinkovic capitalised on more poor Celtic defending to grab a third goal three minutes after the restart, before adding a 76th minute penalty to put the finishing touches on a remarkable and historic afternoon.

It was Brendan Rodgers's first defeat by a Scottish club since taking over Celtic in the summer of 2016 – and it is one he is not likely to forget.

The Parkhead club, however, remain two points ahead of Aberdeen at the top of the table with a game in hand while Hearts, following a fantastic if unexpected result, are unbeaten in six.

Despite their good form, Jambos' boss Craig Levein rang the changes for the lunchtime kick-off with Michael Smith, Jamie Brandon, Don Cowie, Ross Callachan, Cochrane, Milinkovic and Lafferty all restored.

Former Hibernian striker Leigh Griffiths got his first Celtic start since November as defender Mikael Lustig, Jozo Simunovic and Kieran Tierney also returned for a match which began in typically frenetic fashion and hinted at the shock to come.

Lafferty put himself about in the early stages and he and Callachan both had efforts from distance which missed the target.

At the other end, Griffiths slipped when set up by James Forrest inside the Jambos' penalty box, then fired a similar opportunity into the side-netting.

However, Hearts' sheer enthusiasm continued to rattle Celtic again and when Tierney slipped at a Dedryck Boyata pass Milinkovic took a Cowie pass, raced down the right and cut the ball back for Cochrane. The young midfielder then drilled a wonderful shot past Hoops goalkeeper Craig Gordon from 16 yards, to the delight of three of the four Tynecastle stands.

Minutes later Gordon prevented the hosts' doubling their lead when he forced a shot from Milinkovic over the bar for a corner which came to nothing – but Hearts soon had their second goal.

Milinkovic robbed Callum McGregor in the middle of the park and motored forward before releasing Lafferty who, from the edge of the box and looking as if he had plenty to do, angled a shot low past Gordon and in off the far post.

Rodgers brought on striker Moussa Dembele and Stuart Armstrong for Tierney and Olivier Ntcham at the start of the second half but soon found themselves three down when Milinkovic took advantage of a Simunovic slip and rounded Gordon before knocking the ball into the net.

The champions swarmed around the Hearts penalty area and Griffiths drew a fine save from Gorgie goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin with a powerful 22-yard drive.

In the 67th minute Hearts brought on another 16-year-old, Anthony McDonald, for Prince Buaben at the same time as Rodgers used his last throw of the dice by replacing midfielder McGregor with Odsonne Edouard, before Cole Stockton took over from Lafferty.

However, it was all going wrong for the Hoops.Gordon brought down Callachan inside the box following a Gorgie counter-attack – when the Jambos player had overrun the ball – and Milinkovic converted the spot-kick for his second goal in maroon since joining the club in the summer.

There was no way back for last season's the treble winners and their proud undefeated record ended.

Invincibles no more but Celtic’s 69-game run was special
Dejection for the Celtic players at full-time. Picture: SNS
Dejection for the Celtic players at full-time. Picture: SNS
EWING GRAHAME
Published: 23:26 Sunday 17 December 2017
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https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/invincibles-no-more-but-celtic-s-69-game-run-was-special-1-4641847
There was, for Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers at least, a certain symmetry to the greatest undefeated sequence in the history of British football.

Celtic launched their unprecedented 69-game run with a 7-0 thrashing of Motherwell at Parkhead in Ronny Deila’s final match in charge, on 7 May last year.

This, though, will be remembered as Rodgers’ run and it began for him with a 2-1 victory over Hearts at Tynecastle on 7 August, 2016 and it came crashing to an end with a 4-0 defeat by the same opponents at the revamped venue yesterday, more than 16 months later.

Rodgers conceded, as recently as Friday, that his team would lose at some stage, although he would not have anticipated the setback being quite as emphatic as it was when it finally came.

Yesterday’s result may have provided the likes of Aberdeen and Rangers with a glimmer of hope that the Premiership leaders may be about to lose their grip on the title but the smart money suggests otherwise.

It is impossible to build and extend such a run without the players and management concerned possessing mental strength as well as technical ability.

Those 69 games were by no means all one-sided processions, with their rivals capitulating before a ball had been kicked.

Celtic had to grind out results along the way, coming from behind to win and draw while displaying both fortitude and a pride in the history they were making.

That approach, allied to their undoubted skill, saw them become the first British club to complete a campaign unbeaten in all three domestic tournaments. And, with last month’s 
Betfred Cup final victory over Motherwell, it also saw them capture four successive trophies.

Rodgers will shrug off the 4-0 towsing at Tynecastle in the same way he dismissed previous hammerings in Europe by Barcelona, Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich. He will attempt to learn what he can from that reverse but he will already be planning for Wednesday’s home game against the top tier’s bottom club, Partick Thistle, knowing that a victory
will restore Celtic’s five-point advantage over Aberdeen.

Indeed, it would be no surprise if, privately, Rodgers is stressing to his squad that they must now construct another lengthy period without losing in the league and the Scottish Cup.

Those players have, unsurprisingly, looked a little leggy in recent weeks. The match against Hearts was their ninth in 29 days and, with four fixtures still to come before the end of the month, this was always going to be the most likely time for an upset.

Certain pundits at home and elsewhere will be pleased that Rodgers’ side have finally been shown to be fallible. There were complaints that their 69-game run was damaging the image of Scottish football, a ridiculous claim and one which also served as an attempt to undermine the magnificence of the achievement. And it was magnificent. For any team in any league in any country in the world to go more than 19 months without bending the knee to their local adversaries is truly remarkable.

Critics carp about the financial advantages Celtic enjoy over the rest of the top-tier clubs, as if being run properly and making substantial profits is somehow a bad thing (Rangers, for example, continue to run at a loss and have admitted that they will do so until they can compete in the Europa League group stages and no-one appears willing to pinpoint the flaw in that plan).

In any case, PSG’s Qatari oil money makes them the wealthiest club by far in Ligue 1 but 
that couldn’t prevent them losing to lowly Strasbourg a fortnight ago.

Bayern Munich occupy the same position in the Bundesliga.
They’re known as FC Hollywood for a reason but they’ve lost to Hoffenheimn and Borussia Munchengladbach this season.

Celtic have been the richest club in Scotland since the turn of the century but that did not translate itself into invincibility until Rodgers arrived.

The Irishman is a driven individual and that single-mindedness is reflected in his team. The word the players most often use to describe his attitude is “relentless” and, without that incessant demand for perfection, they could never have racked up 60 matches without a setback.

Rodgers was gracious in defeat yesterday but that does not mean it will not have stung him. One imagines that he will be even more determined now to become the first manager to win consecutive trebles.

The Invincibles are no more but their feat deserves to be celebrated.

Brendan Rodgers: Run will not be repeated in our lifetimes
Brendan Rodgers feels the strain during Celtic's 4-0 defeat by Hearts at Tynecastle.
Brendan Rodgers feels the strain during Celtic's 4-0 defeat by Hearts at Tynecastle.
Alan Pattullo
Published: 23:20
Updated: 23:45 Sunday 17 December 2017

Brendan Rodgers backed his Celtic players to a put together another unbeaten run after the champions fell to their first domestic defeat since May 2016.

The manager gathered his players in a huddle around him after the shock 4-0 loss to Hearts. Rodgers urged them to press “the re-set button” and start again, beginning on Wednesday night against Partick Thistle in a rearranged fixture.

Celtic now have a title race to think about with Aberdeen just two points behind in second place, having played a game more. The teams meet this weekend at Celtic Park.

“We’ve never ever said it’s been anything else,” said Rodgers. “Last year I said, we’re not defending a title, we have to win it. We won it last year and will look to go on and win it this year.”

Celtic fell just short of reaching 70 domestic games without defeat after Hearts emphatically put an end to the unbeaten sequence, scoring twice in the first half and twice more in the second.

Highly regarded 16-year-old Harry Cochrane set Hearts on their way with the opening goal, becoming the club’s second youngest goalscorer in the process.

Kyle Lafferty doubled Hearts’ lead ten minutes before half-time and David Milinkovic scored two goals in the second half, the latter from the penalty spot.

It is the Tynecastle club’s biggest over victory over the visitors since a 5-0 win in 1895 and the first time Celtic have failed to score against Scottish opposition since a 0-0 draw with Dundee in March 2016, under Ronny Deila.

Rodgers was quick to praise Hearts, who he said were deserved victors.

“It was always going to happen,” he continued. “I said over many months since I have been here, if the players aren’t human then I’d say maybe we’d never lose.

“But it was always going to happen. It is never nice when it does.”

Rodgers predicted such an unbeaten run won’t happen again in his or his players’ lifetimes, while dismissing those who use it as reason to sneer at the Scottish game.

“He noted it happens in England too, where Manchester City have now won 16 successive league matches.

“It is historical,” he said. “I think people will look at it in different ways.

“Like people will look at Pep Guardiola’s 15 games then all of a sudden there’s criticism of that. It’s whatever people’s perspective is.

“The reality of it is that it’s a history-making run. To go undefeated for 69 games, whatever level it is, whatever competition, it’s a remarkable achievement.

“The players will go down in history because I don’t think it will be done again. Certainly in our lifetimes it won’t be done. They can take huge pride in that.

“I wanted to pull them together [at the end] and let them be aware that they were better than us today and 
we have to accept that,” he added.

“But what you’ve done is amazing and they should use this feeling they have not felt for 18 months, use it as a lever really when moving forward and learn from it and be better for it.

“We are a bigger target for what we have done. We have to learn from that and accept

Tam McManus: Soft centre in defence finally exposed but it will help Celtic
Tam McManus
Herald columnist

Well it has finally happened and boy, was it with a bang. After 69 games and just over 19 months of domestic domination, Celtic have lost a game.

Not quite a crisis just yet for Brendan Rodgers, but he will have learnt an awful lot from watching his side being battered at Tynecastle.

But here’s a thought. I think losing the unbeaten run will actually prove to be a blessing in disguise for all concerned at Celtic.

It has become like a millstone around the necks of the Celtic players. It has been more a case in recent months of not getting beaten, and, keeping the run going, than actually going out and winning.

They have lost that bit of freedom and swagger in their play, plus, it will be a wee bit of a reality check for some of the players who have lost form but been immune to criticism due to being an Invincible.

It’s not as if it hasn’t been coming either, as just a week before, they came within inches of losing it on the other side of Edinburgh.

In saying all that, they didn’t just lose it yesterday, they were absolutely blown away by a bold and brave Hearts side who went at Celtic right from the first whistle. On a tight and bumpy Tynecastle pitch, the Jam Tarts hustled and bullied Celtic into mistakes all over the pitch.

If you give good players time and space to play they will destroy you. Alternatively, if you get in players faces and don’t let them get their heads up, they can look decidedly average. That’s exactly what Hearts did, for 90-plus minutes. They had the courage to press high up the park as a team and squeezed the life out of Celtic.

Sure, you risk being opened up and exposed by doing this, but, football is about taking risks sometimes.

Games against Celtic have become a bit of a freebie as no one expects them to lose. The challenge now is to get near that level every week. Huge credit must go to Craig Levein, a man who has taken loads of criticism by fans and pundits alike, but who is now slowly but surely turning Hearts back into a side that is difficult to play against and beat, especially at Tynecastle.

I know from personal experience, opposing Levein’s Hearts in the early 2000’s, that they could be a tough nut to crack. He knows what it takes to build successful teams and will be hoping to kick on and get up the table.

Not only has it been Craig’s organisation and tactics that have turned Hearts around, but so has his bravery, throwing in young guys like Harry Cochrane and Anthony McDonald, a move that has lifted the whole mood around Tynecastle.

It has proved to be a masterstroke. Fans love to see young kids coming through and will show them more patience than maybe some journeyman or foreign player. In Cochrane and McDonald, they have unearthed a couple of gems who deserve to be in the team regardless of age.

That performance also showed every other team in Scotland the way to get at Celtic. It’s not by sitting back and hoping Celtic have an off day, but by pressing them up the park and trying to expose Celtic’s big weakness, in central defence. And that was brutally exposed yesterday.

Looking at the level that Brendan Rodgers clearly wants to reach, both domestically and in Europe in the coming years, with this group of players, the performance of his two first-choice centre backs will have sent alarm bells ringing.

Celtic have already made moves to bring in the experienced Marvin Compper and for me, Rodgers needs to have a clear out in that area. I have never been impressed by Dedryk Boyata. I don’t think he is the answer at the back, defensively.

Jozo Simunovic has had injury problems and has at times looked pretty solid. However, he had a shocker yesterday against Hearts. Is he going to be a player you can trust in a European environment? I have my doubts.

Eric Sviatchenko meanwhile, now looks surplus and certain to leave the club. Now, if Celtic are serious about moving to that next level, they need to spend some serious money in this area of the team.

If they don’t, that soft centre will continue to be exposed against the best foreign opposition, and as we witnessed yesterday, domestically by any team focused on matching and beating them all over the pitch.

BBC

By Brian McLauchlin

BBC Scotland at Tynecastle

From the section Scottish Premiership 600

Highlights: Heart of Midlothian 4-0 Celtic

Celtic's 69-game unbeaten domestic run was ended in emphatic style as they were stunned 4-0 by Hearts in the Scottish Premiership.

The defeat at Tynecastle is the champions' first domestic loss since a 2-1 reverse at St Johnstone on 11 May 2016 – 585 days ago – and Brendan Rodgers' first as Celtic manager against Scottish opposition.

The streak began under Rodgers' predecessor Ronny Deila when Motherwell were thrashed 7-0 on the final day of the 2015-16 season.

In beating St Johnstone 4-0 in early November, Celtic surpassed their own 100-year-old British record of 62 domestic games without defeat.

Celtic, who Rodgers led to the Scottish Premiership, Scottish Cup and Scottish League treble last season, remain top of the league table by two points, with a game in hand over second-placed Aberdeen.

Hearts had not scored three or more goals in a league match since a 4-0 thumping of Hamilton Academical in March.

Craig Levein's men have conceded just 19 league goals this season, four more than Celtic, who have the best defensive record in Scotland's top flight.

Celtic record may never be beaten – Rodgers
As it happened: Hearts hammer Celtic to end 69-game run
Rodgers' Celtic earn place in the history books

Celtic's unbeaten domestic run (all but one under Brendan Rodgers)
P 69 W 60 D 9 L 0
Scottish Premiership: P 56 W 47 D 9 L 0
Goals for 197
Clean sheets 38

Sixteen-year-old Harry Cochrane and former Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty slammed home first-half goals as Hearts dominated the early skirmishes.

Manuel Milinkovic seized on a dreadful error from Jozo Simunovic to prod in a third early in the second half.

Celtic piled forward, but it was Hearts who struck again, Milinkovic netting from the penalty spot.

Rodgers' side may well go onto claim the Premiership title but they were given a football lesson by a dogged and devastating Hearts, who were in no way flattered by the scoreline.
Teenager Harry Cochrane lashes in the opening goal for Hearts
Harry Cochrane, on just his fifth start for Hearts, thumped in the opening goal after 26 minutes

The hosts were dynamic and effective from the first whistle, pressing the Celtic defence at every opportunity and denying them the time and space to pass out from the back.

Centre-back Dedryck Boyata and goalkeeper Craig Gordon were particularly unsettled, with the latter charged down by Don Cowie in his own goalmouth.

And – after Lafferty, Christophe Berra and Ross Callachan had fired off target – Kieran Tierney's slip allowed Cowie to pilfer possession on the right wing, and slide the ball inside to Cochrane.

The teenager, making just his fifth start, took one touch on the 18-yard line before rifling a low left-foot effort beyond Gordon.
Manuel Milinkovic scores for Hearts
Manuel Milinkovic capitalised on Jozo Simunovic's mistake to put Hearts three goals ahead

The Celtic goalkeeper produced a fine reaction save to divert Milinkovic's volley over the crossbar two minutes later, but it was a temporary reprieve.

Again, the champions surrendered possession, Milinkovic robbing Callum McGregor and sending Lafferty galloping into open space up the right flank.

From the angle of the area, the Northern Ireland striker drove his shot across Gordon and into the back of the net via the inside of the post.

The half-time whistle blew with Celtic, uncharacteristically sloppy on the ball and outfought all over the pitch, trailing 2-0, and the refurbished Tynecastle a raucous cauldron of delirium.

The visitors' slackness continued after the break, as Simunovic allowed a speculative Connor Randall clearance to bounce over his head and into the path of the gleeful Milinkovic, who rounded Gordon and slotted from close range.
Moussa Dembele shows his frustration
Rodgers introduced much-vaunted striker Moussa Dembele after the break, but the Frenchman could not find the net

Under Rodgers, Celtic had never faced a three-goal deficit on domestic duty. They cascaded forward, with the manager introducing highly-rated French striker Moussa Dembele to assist Leigh Griffiths in attack.

It was Griffiths' vicious curling effort that gave Jon McLaughlin his first serious test of the afternoon, the Hearts goalkeeper tipping the ball smartly over the bar.

On came another Celtic striker, Odsonne Edouard this time, but spearheaded by their magnificent captain Berra, the hosts' defence repelled everything Rodgers and his team could throw at them.

And it was Hearts who completed their remarkable triumph – the Gorgie side's biggest over Celtic since 1895 – when Gordon unnecessarily felled the speeding Ross Callachan in the box, Milinkovic striking low and decisively from 12 yards.
Manuel Milinkovic slots his penalty
Milinkovic's penalty rounded off a stupendous day for Hearts

At full-time, Rodgers gathered his players in a huddle. Their run could not last forever, but few would have predicted its demise in such chastening fashion. Now, this group of players faces the challenge of responding to defeat by a Scottish opponent for the first time in 19 months.

Hearts 4-0 Celtic: Unbeaten run may stand forever, says Brendan Rodgers

From the section Celtic 201

Highlights: Heart of Midlothian 4-0 Celtic

Celtic's 69-game unbeaten domestic run, ended emphatically by Hearts on Sunday, may never be surpassed, according to manager Brendan Rodgers.

The Tynecastle side hammered Celtic 4-0, inflicting their first defeat by a Scottish opponent since May 2016.

The Scottish champions broke their own 100-year-old British unbeaten domestic record of 62 games in November.

"They've set a record that may well never be beaten and they can be very proud," Rodgers told BBC Scotland.

"We hit the reset button and look to get three points in our next game.

"Now that the run is finished, we want to get back to winning ways as quickly as possible."

As it happened: Hearts thrash Celtic to end unbeaten record

Celtic 'created history', says manager Brendan Rodgers

Celtic appeared unsettled and were slapdash in possession under heavy pressure from Hearts' aggressive pressing.

Sixteen-year-old Harry Cochrane, then former Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty, drilled home first-half goals, with Manuel Milinkovic striking twice after the break.

The loss is Rodgers' first domestic reverse since taking charge for the 2016-17 campaign.

"First of all, I need to give credit to Hearts," the former Liverpool boss said. "It's a thoroughly deserved win; they were the better team.

"We didn't cope with their physicality in our backline, we made too many mistakes.
Leigh Griffiths and James Forrest cut dejected figures after Celtic's heavy loss to Hearts
Leigh Griffiths and James Forrest were Celtic's brightest attacking threats, but neither could break Hearts' resistance

"We could have played five games today and not scored a goal.

"But I also want to congratulate my players. To have gone through 69 games and this to be their first defeat; of course it's a sore one when you are beaten like that but they can hold their heads up.

"They have been absolutely amazing over those 18 months."

The tall figure of Lafferty was the focal point for Hearts' attack, with the Northern Irishman's aerial prowess allowing his midfield colleagues to power forward.

"We didn't cope with the direct balls from Hearts," Rodgers admitted. "It's a difficult pitch so of course they were not going to want to play on the floor.

"Lafferty was a problem for us, first half in particular, with his physicality. We made too many mistakes, basic errors, when to play and when to defend properly. I think three of the goals came from our players slipping.

"We did our very best and unfortunately our best wasn't good enough. We'll need to learn from the game and look to win our next one."
Brendan Rodgers addresses his disappointed Celtic players after Hearts halt their unbeaten run
Brendan Rodgers gathered his players on the pitch at full-time

Under Rodgers, Celtic won their sixth successive Scottish Premiership title last season, completing the hat-trick of domestic trophies with the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup.

They have already retained the League Cup this term, beating Motherwell in November's final.

After the final whistle, the Celtic boss and his players formed a huddle on the pitch, with Rodgers saying he was eager for the squad to reflect on the pain of defeat, and the magnitude of their achievements.

"I know the disappointment and the honesty of the group," he said. "It was just a case of saying remember what this feels like – that obviously hurts – but also to remind them that what they've done is absolutely incredible.

"This day was always going to happen. It's over now and we need to get

Celtic: Scott Brown adamant players will 'bounce back' after record run ends

By Kheredine Idessane

BBC Scotland

From the section Celtic

Celtic captain Scott Brown
Celtic captain Scott Brown described the team's 69-game unbeaten run as one of the proudest achievements of his career

Captain Scott Brown says the Celtic players will not suffer a negative reaction to their 69-game unbeaten run coming to an end.

Hearts won 4-0 at Tynecastle to inflict the first domestic defeat of Brendan Rodgers' time in charge.

Brown admits the team has been affected by their British record run being halted, but says they will recover.

"Confidence is a little bit dented with the way we performed, but we'll bounce back," Brown, 32, said.

"We've got a big enough squad, we can deal with this. We'll be looking to kick on. The lucky thing about football is that we now have another game coming along to bounce back at Celtic Park."

'Shellacked Celtic need to find edge'
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Celtic host bottom side Partick Thistle on Wednesday evening, and a win would move the champions five points clear of Aberdeen at the top.

Rodgers' side have scored fewer goals and won fewer points than at the same stage in Ronny Deila's final season in charge, but Brown says the unbeaten run never felt like a burden.

"We're disappointed with [the Tynecastle] performance, but it's been a fantastic 69 games beforehand," Brown said.

"We had nine, 10 games last December and came through that – we went December unbeaten, that was Champions League games as well. It's not about fatigue, it was just about one game that was slightly disappointing.

"It's one of the proudest achievements of my career. It's an honour to be captain of this club and to go 69 unbeaten is exceptional. It will go down in history, but history is meant to be rewritten."
Hearts midfielder Harry Cochrane and Celtic captain Scott Brown
Brown has been impressed by 16-year-old Hearts midfielder Harry Cochrane

Brown also said it was a positive for Scottish football that Hearts started with teenager Harry Cochrane in midfield, while another 16-year-old in Anthony McDonald was a second-half substitute.

"It's fantastic for Scotland as well, young kids getting a chance," Brown added.

"They did really well, they were composed on the ball and they were in a few good challenges as well. It's great to see Scottish kids coming through."