Celtic came through a tough afternoon at Pittodrie to win 3-1 in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday, despite losing some key players to fitness and injury issues.
Liel Abada got the scoring underway after latching on to Daizen Maeda’s header from a set piece, before Kyogo Furuhashi capitalised on chaos in the Aberdeen defence, striking finely to restore a 2-1 lead.
Aberdeen gave it a good go across the piece, but thankfully Celtic managed to show more quality in the second half when Matt O’Riley arrived at the end of a Hyunjun Yang pass to make it comfortable in the closing stages.
It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means. This team are still a work in progress under Brendan Rodgers. But three points is a good job done.
What are the big talking points of the day? What did we learn about some of these players? Here are three things we observed this afternoon…
Carter-Vicker and Hatate Celtic injury concerns
Cameron Carter-Vickers was substituted off at half-time today, with Stephen Welsh coming on in his place. Given how much that switch weakens the Bhoys, there is obvious concern regarding a potential injury and whether Carter-Vickers is now spending time on the sidelines.
There’s a suggestion it could just be a precaution – the American international has just returned from surgery after all. Hopefully that is the case and he makes it back into the team as quickly as possible. He’s more needed than ever right now, despite making a rare error for Aberdeen’s goal in the first half.
Unfortunately, there is concern around Reo Hatate, too. He came onto the pitch at half-time for David Turnbull. That switch looked tactical, but Hatate didn’t make it through the second half. He went down in discomfort with an apparent calf muscle issue in the 70th minute and limped off the pitch to be replaced by Odin Thiago Holm.
We’ll have updates on both players as soon as we can source them.
Maik Nawrocki comes through major test
With the injury to Carter-Vickers, it fell to new signing Maik Nawrocki to lead the defensive line through a frantic second half and the Bhoys managed to pass that test. Nawrocki certainly did so with flying colours.
The Polish youth international again showed promising early signs that he will be a shrewd acquisition. He was up against it today but had the composure and the defensive chops to keep Aberdeen from scoring a second equaliser.
We may be talking up his importance in the weeks to come if Carter-Vickers is indeed facing a spell out. With Gustaf Lagerbielke on his way into the club too, this is a defence that has a new look to it. It will take time to get up to full speed.
Nawrocki is at least ensuring he’s contributing well to three-point performances in the meantime.
Hyunjun Yang shows a glimpse of quality
The South Korean came off the bench with 20 minutes to remaining to show how effective he can be in the final third. His magic footwork and shimmy bamboozled the Aberdeen defence, with his expert cutback arriving perfectly for Matt O’Riley to fire home.
Like all of the signings this summer, we’ll see the best of Yang as the season progresses. But he’s eager to get involved and keen to drive at defences. He’s a ball-carrying winger and that’s the kind of balance we need in the attack, with Daizen Maeda and Liel Abada often so direct.
Everyone will be keen to see more of him after today’s cameo. If not for him, the match may have ended in a much nervier fashion, given Aberdeen were competitive in the match. Well done Yang!
In other news, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers’ inside track on money-spinning summer transfers.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
