Clinical Celtic stretched their unbeaten run over Aberdeen at Pittodrie to 14 games after running out 3-1 winners to make it six points out of six for Brendan Rodgers’ men at the start of the new season.
The Hoops - who had won 11 and draw two of their previous 13 visits to the North East - were made to work really hard for their victory against a spirited Dons side, who will take huge encouragement from their performance.
Winger Liel Abada got off the mark for the campaign after breaking the deadlock on 11 minutes with a back-post tap in from Matt O’Riley’s perfectly weighted free-kick. The Israeli’s celebrations were delayed by VAR after referee Kevin Clancy’s offside decision was overturned.
Bojan Miovski equalised for Aberdeen with a decisive close range finish after 25 minutes, but Kyogo Furuhashi capitalised on a terrible defensive mistake by Nicky Devlin to rifle the Hoops back in front just four minutes later.
Star performer O’Riley sealed maximum points late on after smashing home substitute Yang Hyun-Jun’s cross, but a negative for Rodgers will be a couple of injury concerns to Cameron Carter-Vickers and Reo Hatate, with both players forced off.
After suriving their toughest test of the season so far, Celtic now shift their focus to next weekend’s Viaplay Cup second round clash with Kilmarnock in Ayrshire.
Here’s our Celtic player ratings following the victory in the Granite City:
Unused subs: Scott Bain (GK), Sead Haksabanovic, Tomoki Iwata, Alexandro Bernabei.
5. Maik Nawrocki - 6/10
Aiming to build a strong partnership with CCV going forward. A bit shaky first-half but improved after the break. Photo: Craig Foy - SNS Group
6. Greg Taylor - 4/10
Had a bit of a nightmare by his standards. Couldn’t get to grips with Shayden Morris throughout the 90 minutes. | Getty Images
7. Callum McGregor - 6/10
Not his most influential performance. Cautioned for a tactical foul on Morris. Photo: Craig Foy - SNS Group
8. Matt O’Riley - 9/10
His positioning and movement caused Aberdeen problems in the first-half. Excellent delivery for Abada to open the scoring. Calmly side-footed home from close range eith seven minutes remaining. Top class display. | Getty Images