Benjamin Nygren confident Celtic can hunt down Hearts

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The Celtic Star

·6 marzo 2026

Benjamin Nygren confident Celtic can hunt down Hearts

Benjamin Nygren spoke to the media after the 2-1 victory over Aberdeen at Pittodrie that saw Celtic leapfrog theRangers into second place and move to within five points of current leaders Hearts, with Derek McInnes’ side having to come to Celtic Park post-split.

Having scored 19 times already for Celtic in his debut season, the Swedish midfielder is as Ordinary Bhoy pointed out this morning on The Celtic Star, a front-runner for Celtic’s Player of the Year.

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The Swedish goal-grabber certainly has every confidence that Celtic can go on to retain the Scottish Premiership trophy for the 14th time in 15 seasons. Asked if Celtic can catch Hearts, Nygren was confident that the Hoops can and will.

“Yes, of course. It’s still, I don’t know how many games it’s left, nine or ten games left,” Nygren said via PLZ. “We for sure need to do good from here, but we’ll play them again, so of course it’s in reach. Is there enough time to hunt Hearts down? Yes, of course. The time has to be now.”

There are four matches before the split then five tough games after it for the top three, and don’t forget Motherwell who have played one game less and they’ll do that tomorrow up at Dens Park against Dundee where a win would take them to a point behind the Rangers and two behind Celtic ahead of their trip to Celtic Park next weekend. Motherwell could still win the title and certainly could have a big say in who does if it’s not to be for Jens Berthel Askou, for this season at least!

Benjamin Nygren scores the winner. Aberdeen v Celtic, Scottish Premiership. Wednesday 4th March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

“You all know that in the last five games of the season a lot can happen and there are no easy games, so there can be big swings. That’s how it is.,” Nygren said. “The last games will be tough, and they will for sure feel the pressure. We’ll play them (Hearts) again at home, so we need to do good from here.

“Myself, I’m not looking that much at the league table. I know we have to go into every game to win, but of course it’s better to be second than third.”

Benjamin Nygren celebrates. Aberdeen v Celtic, Scottish Premiership. Wednesday 4th March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

On the important win at Pittodrie, with Celtic playing their third game in six days, Nygren acknowledged the importance of picking up the three points.

“It was a massive win, such an important game. Every game now is the biggest game of the season. I think we’ve shown it so many times this season that no matter what, we don’t give up. We stay together as a group and keep fighting all the time, no matter what, and what the score is in the game.

“We showed it again last game, 2-0 down at Ibrox is very difficult. It can be easy to put your head down, but we didn’t. We went out in the second half and took over the game and in the end made it 2-2,” the Swede said.

“Wednesday was a difficult away game and we got the win. I think we showed again what the team are made of. We’ve had many games.

Benjamin Nygren celebrates. Aberdeen v Celtic, Scottish Premiership. Wednesday 4th March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

“I think one of our coaches said it was our third game in six days or something like this. This is a difficult place to come to and we have a big respect for Aberdeen. But I think, like I said, in the end we deserved the win, even though it was hard-fought.”

On the long VAR check for what turned out to be the winner, Nygren admitted that he was fearing the worst as the decision was taking so long to reach.

VAR check – Scottish Premiership. Wednesday 4th March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

”Yes, of course you’re always worried when you see the VAR on the screen, but in the end I was on the right side so that was good. My feeling was I was onside because I tried to see where the ball was and to be on the right side. So I didn’t think it would be VAR first, but on the footage it was closer than I thought.”

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On his own goalscoring exploits, including the winner against Aberdeen, Nygen is delighted with his tally so far, already beating his best season total of 16 from last season in Denmark.

Celtic’s latest Super Swede said: ”I’m very pleased with that. I’m a player who wants to contribute to help my team win and that’s what you do with goals and assists.

“That’s how I, as a player, try to create chances and score goals and create goal-scoring opportunities. I had 16 goals last season.”