Last season’s Scottish champions Celtic failed to regain the lead as Yang Hyun-joon was sent off directly.
Celtic lost 0-2 in the 29th round of the Scottish Premiership against Hearts of Midlothian at Tynecastle Park in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 3rd (Korea time).
Due to the defeat, Celtic maintained 68 points (21 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses), staying in second place and failing to regain the lead position held by rival Rangers (70 points). On the contrary, Hearts, who dominated Celtic at home, increased their points to 55 (17 wins, 4 draws and 8 losses), narrowing the gap with Celtic.
In particular, South Korean winger Yang Hyun-joon started the day and aimed at attacking points in three consecutive league games, but he had an unfortunate day as his teammate missed the penalty kick he got in the early part of the first half and was even sent off directly.
The away team Celtic put forward a 4-3-3 formation. Joe Hart defended the goal, and Greg Taylor, Liam Scales, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Alistair Johnston formed the back four. Paulo Bernardu, Tomoki Iwata, and Matt O’Reilly were in charge of the midfield, and Daizen Maeda, Adam Ida, and Yang Hyung-jun were named in the front three top lines 핑크알바.
Hearts, the home team, faced 3-5-2. Xander Clark wore goalkeeper gloves, while Kai Rawls, Stephen Kingsley and Toby Sibleyk formed the back three. Alex Cochran and Dexter Remviksa were deployed at left and right wing backs, and Jorge Grant, Benny Baningimi and Kalem Newnhoff played in the midfield. Alan Forrest and Lawrence Shankland aimed for Celtic’s goal at the front line.
Celtic had a chance to go ahead as Yang Hyun-jun won a penalty kick in the 11th minute of the first half. Yang Hyun-jun took first the ball that came into the penalty box, and Hearts wingback Cochran belatedly tackled and knocked Yang Hyun-jun over, declaring a penalty for Celtic.
Yang Hyun-jun has scored two consecutive league points by raising one assist each in the past two league games. With momentum, Yang Hyun-jun used his fast speed to win a penalty kick in the early hours of the first half, establishing himself as a key resource for Celtic.
However, Yang Hyun-jun’s penalty did not lead to a goal. A kicker striker, Ida, fired a shot into the center of the net, which was saved by Hearts goalkeeper Clark.
To make matters worse, Celtic, which failed to score a goal, overlapped with bad news that Yang Hyun-joon was sent off in the early hours of the first half.
In the 15th minute of the first half, Yang Hyun-joon raised his right foot high to receive the ball in the air, and Yang Hyun-joon hit Cochrane in the face, who ran to take the ball away. Yang Hyun-joon immediately apologized because it was unintentional, but it was a dangerous situation, and the referee gave a warning to Yang Hyun-joon.
The referee took out a yellow card from Yang, but made a different judgment from the VAR room. VAR asked the referee to check the situation properly, and the referee went outside the touch line to conduct an on-field review. After watching the monitor closely, the referee returned to the ground, reversed the judgment, revoked the warning he had given to Yang, took out a red card and ordered him to leave.
Celtic, which was underperforming in numbers as Yang Hyung-joon was sent off, eventually allowed the first goal in the 43rd minute of the first half. Celtic fullback Johnston committed a handball foul in the box, and Hearts’ penalty was declared after VAR review.
Unlike Celtic, Hearts neatly scored a penalty kick. As a kicker, midfielder Grant deceived Hearts’ goalkeeper perfectly and slotted an accurate shot into the left corner to give his team the lead.
Celtic, who allowed the first goal in the first half, strengthened their attack by putting in the team’s main gun, Kyogo Furuhashi, after the start of the second half, but their defeat intensified when they gave up an additional goal to Hearts striker Shankland in the 11th minute of the second half.
New-Earnhoff, who received Shankland’s pass in the box, slipped and fell, but succeeded in passing it to Shankland before losing the ball in the middle of the fall. Shankland then opened the score to two goals as he cut through the Celtic net with a right-footed shot.
In the end, Celtic failed to turn the game around and lost 0-2 to their rival Rangers to hand over the top spot in the league. The team also ended its unbeaten run in 12 games (10 wins and two draws).
It is a painful result for Yang. After his recent return from Qatar in the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, he played in four matches and succeeded in impressing with two assists, but failed to maintain good momentum as he was directly ejected from the match against Hearts.
In general, if he is sent off directly due to violent acts such as dangerous tackles, he will be suspended for three games, but Celtic may appeal that he was unintentional, so attention is expected to be focused on how many games Yang Hyun-joon will not be able to officially play in the future.
Meanwhile, South Korean striker Oh Hyun-kyu was excluded from the list as he was not included in the bench. Oh Hyun-kyu, who played as a substitute in the 26th round of the league against Kilmarnock on April 17, missed three consecutive games including the match against Hearts.