Celtic vs Motherwell. Scottish Premiership.
Celtic ParkAttendance49,050.
Sunday 15 May 2016 17:22, UK
Champions Celtic cruised to a 7-0 victory at home to lacklustre Motherwell on Sunday, as Ronny Deila ended his two-year reign as Hoops manager in style.
And the margin would have been even wider, had it not been for some decent saves by visiting keeper Connor Ripley, on a day when Celtic were presented with the Premiership trophy for a fifth straight year.
By the time Celtic opened the scoring in the 21st minute, they should have already been two or three goals to the good.
Tom Rogic missed a brace of early chances, while Ripley did well to deny both Ryan Christie and Rogic who once again came close to finding the back of the net.
The breakthrough finally arrived in the 21st minute when Ripley was powerless to deny Kieran Tierney from locating the bottom left-hand corner from 12 yards, after sprinting into the box.
And the second goal arrived a few minutes later when Christie combined with Stuart Armstrong whose shot hit a post before Rogic followed the ball in from close range.
It was 3-0 on 27 when the Motherwell defence allowed Armstrong's deep corner to reach Mikael Lustig at the far post and the defender nodded home from close range.
It should have been four just before half-time when Rogic's shot was parried by Ripley, only for the unmarked Christie to knock the rebound over the bar from five yards - when it seemed easier to score.
Five minutes into the second half, Armstrong's excellent turn and shot, into the top left-hand corner, made it 4-0.
Patrick Roberts curled home the fifth from just outside the box as Motherwell's defence appeared to be more interested in improving their sun tan, rather than providing any resistance against the champions.
Rogic then set up an unmarked Christie to wander into the box to clip home goal number six.
As Celtic searched for more, Ripley saved well from Roberts while Christie hit a post from a narrow angle.
And history was made 15 minutes from time when substitute Jack Aitchison became the youngest-ever Celtic player at 16 years and 71 days.
And within three minutes he had become their youngest scorer, latching on to an assist by the dreadful Motherwell defence before slipping the ball past Ripley from eight yards to make it 7-0.
Finally, as the game entered its closing 10 minutes, Celtic keeper Craig Gordon was tested, pushing away a Morgaro Gomis drive from outside the box.
That was it, with Celtic ending up 15 points clear of the rest before the trophy was handed to skipper Scott Brown whose injury prevented him from facing Motherwell on the final day of the season.
