Joe Hart's Celtic revival silences England critics 5 years on from Scotland showdown in Leigh Griffiths contrast

Exactly five years ago Joe Hart sat slumped and shattered on the Hampden turf.

As the Tartan Army jubilantly celebrated two magnificent Leigh Griffiths free-kicks, the foxed England goalkeeper was staring into the international abyss.

Hart was on his way out. The knives were already being sharpened after weak goals lost the previous summer at Euro 2016 to Wales’ Gareth Bale and Iceland’s Kolbeinn Sigthorsson.

Those blades were buried in his back by his critics after Griffiths hurled him left and right without getting near his finishes.

Hart’s fate was sealed. He wasn’t instantly disregarded, but he won only four more caps under Gareth Southgate. Within five months, he was out.

By the time the World Cup Finals in 2018 came around, Jordan Pickford has taken over between the posts. He’s been there ever since.

Hart had already been robbed of his big Champions League nights after Pep Guardiola swung the Manchester City axe and dumped him out of the Etihad.

However, he is going back on Europe’s elite stage with Celtic in the next couple of months as his revival gathers pace.

Is it possible that Hart could also complete the other comeback by using that Champions League springboard to bounce back onto England duty? At Qatar in the World Cup Finals?

It’s probably unlikely, but at least he’s got a chance.

It’s not quite the same fairy story for his chief torturer on June 10, 2017.

While Hart has been on a rollercoaster which is now back on the ascent since that day at Hampden, things have also changed dramatically for Griffiths.

At that time, the striker’s career was soaring as high and as spectacularly as the two set-pieces from his wand of a left peg that day.

Griffiths had just helped Brendan Rodgers win his first title at