Hearts contact police and condemn ‘shameful’ abuse of players and staff after Celtic defeat |…

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Hearts contact police and condemn ‘shameful’ abuse of players and staff after Celtic defeat

Hearts have issued a statement castigating the “shameful” and “disgraceful” scenes which marred the conclusion to the Scottish Premiership’s title race at Celtic Park. The Edinburgh club has emphasised “deeply disturbing” treatment of players and staff. Celtic’s last-day victory had secured their fifth title in succession.

Callum Osmand’s goal for Celtic, the third in a 3-1 win, fuelled a mass pitch invasion which saw Hearts players antagonised and confronted. Those who entered the pitch were audibly booed by those in the stands.

The Hearts squad duly left the pitch, before the end of stoppage time, with the game never restarted. They headed immediately back to Tynecastle Park under police escort.

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Celtic and Heart of Midlothian were already guaranteed places in next season's Champions League qualifiers before Saturday's dramatic and chaotic head-to-head finale to the Scottish Premiership season.

But the hosts' comeback to win 3-1 and overtake the long-time leaders for a fifth successive title means it is Celtic who will enter Europe as champions and Hearts as runners-up.

So what does it mean in terms of their respective paths to potential Champions League riches – and for Scotland's other European representatives after Motherwell pipped Hibernian for fourth place?

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Club Statement: Events at Celtic Park

Heart of Midlothian utterly condemns the shameful scenes at Celtic Park this afternoon which have, once again, embarrassed Scottish football.

Reports of serious physical and verbal abuse towards our players and staff, both on the pitch and elsewhere, are deeply disturbing. We are investigating this fully and are in dialogue with Police Scotland. We will make no further comment at this time other than to say that it is completely unacceptable that our players and staff were put in that situation.

Given the menacing and threatening atmosphere inside the stadium, our entire staff had no alternative but to leave immediately, without undertaking post-match media duties. To our media partners, we apologise but the safety of our staff was our prime focus during these unacceptable scenes.

For more detailed information, explore updates concerning Hearts contact police.

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