Will the Scottish champions in 2026 not be Celtic Glasgow or Glasgow Rangers? At least, leaders Heart of Midlothian sent out another signal on Sunday with a home win against Rangers, who were previously unbeaten in the league under Danny Röhl.
For Glasgow Rangers, the top match in Scotland came at just the right time. Under its new coach Danny Röhl (who took office on October 20), the traditional club had not lost any of its eight league games and had won six of them – no other club in the Scottish Premiership had scored more points during this period.
But this Sunday, they faced the team of the season so far, who are dreaming of their first national championship title since the 1959/60 season in Edinburgh. However, the first 30 minutes belonged to the in-form visitors, who took the lead in the tenth minute: After a corner from the left, Fernandez won the header at the near post and sent the ball into the bottom right corner. Miovski got a touch on the ball before it crossed the line. After video review, the goal was disallowed due to a very close offside call on Miovski.
Butland does not look good on the 0-2 goal
In the quarter hour before the break, the hosts suddenly woke up from their deep slumber and promptly scored the 1-0. Kyziridis crossed the ball from the left into the middle, where Findlay headed it into the left corner, perfectly against Butland’s direction of movement (38′).
Butland was back in the spotlight four minutes later when Shankland beat him from a tight angle into the near corner – the Rangers keeper did not look good at 0-2 (42′).
After the break, Röhl brought on Chermiti (46′) and Gassama (63′) to freshen things up, but the home side defended their lead passionately. The home side had a few chances, but Shankland (60′) missed the chance to seal the win. In the final third, Rangers simply weren’t clinical enough. Röhl’s substitute Chermiti did manage to score, but the goal deep into stoppage time came too late (90+5).
In the end, former Freiburg keeper Schwolow was able to celebrate with Hearts. Before Christmas, Rangers are already twelve points behind the leaders with one game in hand.