Celtic sent out a strong message to their Scottish Premiership title challengers as they thrashed third-place Hearts 7-1 on a remarkable afternoon at Parkhead.

Celtic and Hearts only went head-to-head in a title decider back in May, but the gulf in class between the two teams was there for all to see in Glasgow on Sunday, admittedly not helped by Wouter Vrancken's tactics.

The Hoops raced into a 5-1 lead at half-time, just days after they'd been outclassed by Benfica in the Europa League in Portugal.

O'Neill rung the changes with Liam Scales, Benjamin Nygren, Haissem Hassan and Callum Osmand coming in for Auston Trusty, Oliver Sorensen, Kasper Hogh and Sebastian Tounekti for the big league clash.

It was Osmand's first start in a Celtic shirt since joining from Fulham in the summer of 2025, and he didn't let his manager down with an outstanding display and two goals, while Hogh must have looked on from the bench disbelievingly following his recent goal drought.

The 20-year-old impressed from the left-hand side and the performance of him, and Camilo Duran, who registered one goal and two assists in the forward line, led club legend Scott Brown to discuss a Celtic player not in the XI on Sunday.

Brown Rinses Tounekti After Osmand Display

Celtic paid more than £5m to sign Tounekti from Hammarby IF in the summer of 2025, but he's failed to convince supporters that he is worthy of starting regularly for the club during his time at Parkhead.

The Tunisia international was hooked at half-time in Lisbon on Thursday and then was omitted from the squad altogether for Hearts, which was probably still a surprise.

Brown clearly hasn't been impressed by Tounekti, given what he said during the second half of the 7-1 humiliation for Hearts.

He said: "The best thing about Celtic today was the pace in the forward line and how they got after Hearts.

Camilo Duran through the middle is exciting me. Callum Osmand did more in 45 minutes out wide than Sebastian Tounekti has done, probably since he signed for the club.

"Haissem Hassan has got a few issues defensively, but going forward he's a delight to watch."

To get called out by a club legend is one thing, but Tounekti has made 59 appearances for Celtic in all competitions, so for Brown to say Osmand has made more impact in 45 minutes than he has in that number of games is embarrassing for the Tunisian.

Brown might not be far wrong though, as the African winger simply hasn't contributed enough since joining in 2025, especially for a player who cost more than £5m.

The struggles for the likes of the forward and teammate Hogh, even though it is obviously still early days for the Dane, suggest that Celtic simply aren't getting their recruitment as right as they would like to and should be in recent years, and they need to improve it as quickly as possible.

It will be interesting to see when we see Tounekti back in the starting XI under O'Neill, but what is clear is that Osmand has laid down a marker and staked his claim for a spot in the team.