Penalty pandemonium sets up Hearts & Celtic showdown for the ages
Even in the early minutes of a tumultuous night that saw Scottish football's mad-o-meter blow up in smoke, there were scenes that suggested another extraordinary chapter in the Hearts versus Celtic title story was nigh.Every time the cameras panned to sections of the Tynecastle crowd, somebody was in tears, somebody looked in pain, somebody was watching with their head in their hands.For 12 glorious minutes during the first half, they were champions of Scotland and it all seemed too much. Winning 2-0 against Falkirk and with Celtic losing 1-0 at Motherwell, the perfect picture was forming in front of their eyes.It became blurred, of course. Everybody knew it would, but it was still a brief glimpse of what-might-be, a tantalising vision of the future they're all praying for.We now have a denouement at Celtic Park on Saturday, a straight shootout between leaders Hearts and chasers Celtic. A win or a draw for Derek McInnes' team and they are champions. Forget everything you thought you knew about Scottish football at that point because everything will change if they manage to enter the cauldron in Glasgow's east end and defy Martin O'Neill, his team and almost 60,000 supporters.O'Neill is intending to leave Celtic soon - and there is no sign at all that he intends to leave quietly.McInnes rages at 'disgusting' Celtic penalty as title race goes to final dayDraw at Celtic Park will earn Hearts title after Falkirk drawControversial 99th-minute penalty keeps Celtic's title hopes alive'Footballing earthquake is still possible'It makes no sense that Hearts are still atop the league table with 90 minutes of the season to go. It makes no sense that they have led for the longest time despite having finances that are a mere spit in a bucket compared to Celtic's.A seismic event, a footballing earthquake, is still possible for them - as is earth-shattering disappointment - but either way you know that the last day of the season is probably going to have some, all, or even more craziness and confusion and rancour as the penultimate night did on Wednesday.For the people of Hearts and the folk belonging to Celtic, the whole evening was a walk on the wild side; epic, colosally controversial, thunder and lightning to the last whistle. Enough to wake the dead.Fir Park, where Motherwell were hosting Celtic, was a drama unto itself. Motherwell might have had a penalty, then Celtic might have had one. Both were turned down and both looked like really poor calls.Things twisted and turned. Celtic drew level through Daizen Maeda and now the gap at the top went from four points to three. Celtic would need a 3-0 win on Saturday to win the title on goal difference.We looked up the stats. No team has beaten Hearts by three clear goals in the league this season. The last team to do it? Celtic. The team before that? Celtic. And the team before that? Celtic again.When Benjamin Nygren put Celtic 2-1 up, the picture changed. Celtic only needed a win in their own place and they'd be champions again.Few at Hearts could see the reality of what was going down in Lanarkshire, though. Motherwell were fighting back, knocking the ball around, playing their incisive passes, stretching Celtic, threatening their lead.Five minutes to go and it was all Motherwell. A shot blocked, another shot saved, on the rebound - a goal. When the news hit Tynecastle it was as if Hearts themselves had scored.As you were, then. Celtic would need to win by three clear goals again. Hearts, meanwhile, were making it 3-0 through Blair Spittal. Professional and clinical. Not a trace of the heat getting to them. Everything was coming up maroon.Only, it wasn't. The late penalty sparked pandemonium. The game deep in added time, Sam Nicholson of Motherwell, arm in the air and rising above Auston Trusty. Then, the sight that would have sent a chill up the spine of every Hearts fan - referee John Beaton stopping dead in his tracks with his finger to his ear. VAR on the line.As Beaton made his way back from the monitor and pointed to the spot with an astonishing amount of conviction given the scant evidence of an offence, a voice among the Motherwell fans was picked up on radio: "The game's done," it said.The Scottish FA is probably going to bend over backwards to defend the call - handball when it looked to all the world that Nicholson had nutted it clear with his head - but it was given and it was converted and few could quite believe it. That decision may yet have a profound impact on the destination of the title. We may not have heard the last of this. Future generations might mull this one over.A shocked Motherwell manager, Jens Berthel Askou, said that in no other world would it have been given. It cost him league points and he was furious. An enraged McInnes said it was a "disgusting" decision that left him feeling like "we're up against everybody". It could end up costing Hearts a whole lot more than it cost Motherwell.Social media was ablaze. Gary Lineker was watching and he couldn't fathom it. He was not alone. That's a second big call that's gone against Hearts in a week. They were denied a penalty late on at Motherwell on Saturday; one point could have become three. McInnes said his team needed a siege mentality to deal with... well, he stopped short of spelling it out but you caught his drift.In the aftermath, O'Neill spoke about the character of his players and their ability to dig themselves out of trouble, a trait that might be enough to see them retain their title. They're not a compelling team, but they have spirit and motivation. Saturday could, and should be a classic.McInnes tried to be measured but the dam burst a little when he spoke about the decisions he feels are going against his club. He was proud but irate. "Am I missing something?" he asked when offering his views on why it shouldn't have been a penalty for Celtic. The befuddlement on his face was clear.Can Hearts win '90-minute cup final'? After 10 months of speculation about Hearts' capacity to go the distance, we now have our answer. There's been no implosion, as some fans of the big two from Glasgow predicted. They haven't gone away, the pressure has not got to them. After 37 games they remain the best team in the country.The Hearts captain, Lawrence Shankland, might have been seething about the late events at Fir Park, but for the microphones he stayed focused on the big prize. "It's a 90-minute cup final," he said, before reminding everyone that Hearts have already beaten Celtic home and away this season. "We'd have taken this situation at the start of the season. We'd have bitten your hand off for it."On a night of bewilderment, that was the unarguable truth. Hearts still have this in their own hands. Thirty-seven games have been negotiated with just one more to go. The toughest one against the hardest opponent in their own backyard. It's the one that could make them live forever in a footballing sense or the one that will make them join the Hearts boys of 1986 and 1965, denied on the final day. Heroes, almost.Celtic will be waiting for them. Those Celtic fans will shake the ground under their feet. Somehow it was fitting that it came to this. A massive stage for a game of the greatest significance.
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