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.
9. David Turnbull - 4/10
Disappointing after playing a starring role last week. Pretty quiet and blazed over when he should’ve picked out a team mate instead. Booked and substituted at half-time. | Getty Images
10. Liel Abada - 7/10
Opened the scoring from a back-post tap in to get off the mark for the season after a lengthy VAR check from O’Riley’s free-kick. Faded slightly after the break but still posed a threat. Subbed. Photo: Steve Welsh
11. Daizen Maeda - 7/10
Lively and his pace caused Aberdeen problems. Looked destined to score when latching onto a cross from roughly five yards out but somehow thwarted by Devlin’s goal-saving block. Denied again by Kelle Roos in the closing stages. | Getty Images
12. Kyogo Furuhashi - 7/10
Produced a devastating drilled finish to regain Celtic’s lead at 2-1 after capitalising on a defensive error. Missed a glorious chance in the second half, lashing over the bar. Subbed late on. Photo: Craig Foy - SNS Group