Revenge is a dish best served cold. Celtic’s only dropped points came earlier this season at Inverness in a 2-2 draw, and on Wednesday the Hoops exacted revenged for the only two points missing on the season.
A pair of second half Moussa Dembele goals put the game away for good, as Celtic cruised to a 4-0 victory.
It wasn’t completely easy, but once the first goal went it, the floodgates opened for the visitors to the Highlands.
Celtic took 43 minutes to get a goal, but it was just rewards as Scott Sinclair shook off a tackle outside the box and curled one past Fon Williams. It was a thing of pure footballing beauty and set the month of March off on the right tone for the Bhoys.
As awesome as that goal was, Celtic’s second was an absolute joke. Williams folded under pressure, missed a clearance kick and gave a gift of a goal to Dembele.
That goal managed to happen in just the 46th minute of the match and literally and figuratively killed off the match.
Caley Thistle had no answer after that and Williams’ nightmare night was far from over.
Dembele and Sinclair were pests the rest of the second half, with the two nearly hooking up for a pretty goal in the 51st minute. However, Sinclair scuffed a great cross from Dembele and it was a goal kick for the hosts instead.
However, Celtic were far from done putting pressure on the team that owes them two points this season. Celtic’s two-goal lead became three in just the 61st minute as Stuart Armstrong got on the scoreboard with a ridiculous free kick effort that should’ve been easily saved by Williams.
Instead, the Caley Thistle keeper was late to cover his near post and the wall was inadequate at best as well. The result was Armstrong sneaking in a cheeky free kick to the near post and a 3-0 lead for the Bhoys.
Just as incredible as the first three goals, perhaps the best team effort came on the final goal of the game. Celtic were busy defending late and gave Inverness a quick lesson in real counter attack in the 73rd minute.
Kiernan Tierney got Celtic out of trouble in front of the net with a quick strike up the pitch, catching Caley Thistle in a high line at the midfield mark. He hit a perfect ball to a streaking Dembele and it was all up to his finish one-on-one with the keeper.
Dembele didn’t disappoint and bagged his 31st goal in all competitions this season for Celtic.
Not only did Celtic pound the hosts on the scoreboard, they did it was relative ease. So much so that manager Brendan Rodgers had high praise for the style of play from his side on the night, according to the BBC.
“It is how I want the team to play – defensively very compact, hunting in packs, giving little space to the opponent and when we had the ball, attacking with fluidity and a goal threat.”
Celtic will look to effectively kill off the season in the next two matches, leading the Scottish Premiership by 27 points over Aberdeen and holding an advantage of 31 in goal differential.
Up next will be a Sunday afternoon clash with St. Mirren in the Scottish Cup quarterfinal at Paradise.