CELTIC responded to the defeat they suffered to Hibernian at Easter Road on Saturday in impressive fashion at Parkhead tonight with an emphatic win over third-placed Aberdeen which sent them 16 points clear of Rangers at the top of the William Hill Premiership.
Brendan Rodgers had been far from impressed with how his side had performed in the capital at the weekend as they returned to action following their Champions League exit – but he could have no complaints whatsoever about their display against Jimmy Thelin’s on-form team this evening.
Goals from Daizen Maeda, Jota and Callum McGregor in the first half gave the Scottish champions an unassailable lead and they rounded off a straightforward victory after half-time thanks to a strike from substitute Yang Hyun-jun and another from Maeda.
Aberdeen substitute Shayden Morris bagged a consolation goal for the visitors in the final minute of regulation time.
Rangers will reduce their city rivals’ huge advantage if – and it is a big if give both their form of late and their track record down in Ayrshire – they overcome Kilmarnock at Rugby Park tomorrow night as interim manager Barry Ferguson takes charge for the first time.
But this slick triumph showed the Hibs result was nothing more than a minor blip and underlined the leaders are intent on clinching further silverware as quickly as possible.
Here are five talking points from the one-sided encounter.
Attacking Aberdeen
Thelin made three changes to the side which had edged out Kilmarnock at home on Saturday – Ross Doohan replaced Dimitar Mitov in goals, Graeme Shinnie took over from Ante Palaversa in midfield and donned the captain’s armband once again and Oday Dabbagh was preferred to Pape Gueye up front.
Palestinian striker Dabbagh, who had netted a last-minute winner at the weekend, was joined in the visitors’ line-up by his fellow forward Kevin Nisbet. He played just ahead of his new team mate in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
It was a positive approach to a difficult fixture by the Swedish coach – but it very nearly paid off for him early on as his charges created two excellent goalscoring opportunities during the opening exchanges.
Dabbagh was just beaten to a Jeppe Okkels pass into the hosts’ penalty box by Kasper Schmeichel after a counter attack and Nisbet then went close with a shot from the edge of the area after an underhit clearance by the Celtic goalkeeper.
The pocket of Dons diehards who had made the long journey down from the north-east and were billeted in between the Main Stand and the Lisbon Lion Stand were delighted and they broke into a chant of ‘This is a library’.
However, those missed opportunities would come back to haunt Aberdeen.
Engels influence
Arne Engels has slowly but surely started to show why Celtic were prepared to shell out a record £11m transfer fee to secure his services in recent weeks.
The former Augsburg midfielder had an excellent game in the Champions League last 16 rematch with Bayern Munich over in Germany last week and he was decent once again this evening.
He was involved in his side’s opening two goals in the first half and was a deserved recipient of the Man of the Match award following the final whistle.
Kristers Tobers failed to deal with his pass into the Aberdeen box and Maeda was well-placed to volley home the loose ball and break the deadlock. The Belgian then squared to Jota for the second. When McGregor added a third shortly before half-time it effectively wrapped up another three points.
Thelin made a double change at the start of the second half. He removed Okkels and Nisbet and put on Morris and Gueye. There was, though, never any chance of his men producing the sort of fightback that they did on their previous visit to the East End of Glasgow back in October with their opponents in this sort of mood. Keeping the scoreline down was an achievement of sorts.
The heavy reverse ended the Pittodrie club’s three match winning win and handed Dundee United, who take on Hibs at Tannadice tomorrow night, the chance to leapfrog them into third once again.
Celtic centurion
With Greg Taylor leaving the Celtic squad this afternoon due to his wife going in to labour, Jeffrey Schlupp was give the nod at left-back. On the other side of the defence, Alistair Johnston made his 100th appearance for the club he joined from Montreal in his homeland at the start of last year.
The Canadian right-back helped his side to dominate and take another stride towards their fourth consecutive Scottish title. The defender experienced few difficulties dealing with Okkels, Jack MacKenzie and Topi Keskinen down his flank. He looked irked when Morris breached the rearguard at the death.
Captain’s contribution
South Korean winger Yang is another Celtic player who has shown he has much to contribute going forward in recent weeks and the replacement took his goal well after Nicolas Kuhn had left the field.
But he has some way to go to reach the level that his skipper McGregor scales on a weekly basis. The former Scotland midfielder, who is now the grand old age of 31, took his tally for the 2024/25 campaign to nine with his composed finish. He has now been on target 50 times for his boyhood heroes in the Premiership.
He will be determined to rack up a record personal haul in the remaining weeks of the season. And on this evidence he has every chance of doing so.
Williams remembered
Evan Williams, the former Wolves, Aston Villa, Celtic and Clyde goalkeeper who passed away at the age of 81 last week, was remembered before kick-off by both sets of supporters.
The Dumbarton-born player spent five seasons at Parkhead in the late 1960s and early 1970s and won the Scottish title on four occasions and the Scottish Cup twice during that time. But he also played in the European Cup final against Feyenoord in Milan in 1970 and was named Man of the Match after extra-time.
The minute’s applause in his honour was a fitting way to mark the life of a fine footballer and great servant to the Glasgow club.
