Revenge was on the agenda this Sunday. The two sides met for the first time since 16 May, with Celtic top of the table and Hearts in pursuit. A win would have taken Hearts to within two points of the defending champions.
With young international Mika Baur pulling the strings in central midfield, Celtic dominated at will. Hearts played reasonably well going forward and repeatedly got shots away, but their dysfunctional man-to-man defence had no answer to the Hoops.
Two Baur corners set up Kieran Tierney (7th minute) and Benjamin Nygren (10th) to give Celtic an early lead. Title-winning hero Callum Osmand then struck twice to make it 4-0 (36th, 38th).
Laurent Mendy pulled one back for the visitors (41st), but Baur made it 5-1 before half-time with an impressive solo run and a chip over the keeper. Hearts defender Stephen Kingsley struck his team-mate Jamie McCart on the line while trying to clear, so the goal went down as an own goal rather than being credited to the Germany international.
Any hopes of a visitors' fightback vanished soon after the start of the second half when Camilo Duran made it 6-1 to Celtic (49th). The match lost its intensity before Benjamin Nygren completed the 7-1 scoreline (83rd).
Getty ImagesWhat was the reaction to Celtic's emphatic win?
The Edinburgh Evening News called Hearts' display "defensive suicide" and wrote of "gifts to the visitors". It was "a shameful afternoon in Glasgow" for last season's runners-up, the newspaper concluded.
For Celtic manager Martin O'Neill, praise centred on his decision to give Osmand his first start. The 20-year-old had helped make his side champions in May as a substitute, providing the assist for the 2-2 equaliser and scoring the winner against Hearts, but had not yet broken into the first team since then. Before Sunday's start, Osmand had played just 28 minutes across two brief appearances in this league season.
"Martin O'Neill made the big decisions and Celtic delivered at Celtic Park," Sky Sports Scotland concluded. "A ruthless performance from the Hoops, who move four points clear at the top of the table."
O'Neill himself described the result as "the perfect response to the disappointments in Europe. We had to make a statement today, and the lads did that brilliantly. As for Callum Osmand: I'm absolutely delighted with him. His movement before the goals, his hunger – he showed today why we rate him so highly. It was a ruthless attacking performance from the whole team."
Getty ImagesWhat did new Germany international Mika Baur say?
Before the match, the 74-year-old had warned that Hearts were title contenders. "I think they have what it takes, and I think they may want to make up for last season's results." His players took the experienced manager's words seriously.
Baur called it a "perfect afternoon" and shrugged off the goal being "stolen" from him: "in the end, I don't mind". "The atmosphere at Paradise was incredible today. We wanted to put pressure on them from the first second. At the corners, I knew exactly where the lads would make their runs. And before the break... I just saw the gap and wanted to chip the ball over the keeper," said the 22-year-old, who moved from newly promoted Bundesliga side SC Paderborn to Celtic FC in the summer and made his first two senior appearances for Germany under national team coach Jürgen Klopp in the Nations League at the start of October.
The 7-1 win took Celtic eight points clear of runners-up Heart of Midlothian and four clear of arch-rivals Glasgow Rangers, who had drawn 2-2 away to Dundee FC on Saturday.
As O'Neill noted, Celtic responded well to their 4-1 thrashing away to Benfica in Lisbon in the Europa League last Thursday.