Brendan Rodgers delivers Aberdeen title challengers verdict after Celtic Park draw

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Brendan Rodgers watched his Celtic side drop the first points of the Scottish Premiership season this weekend in the 2-2 draw with Aberdeen yesterday.

Both sides went into the Celtic Park clash with an unblemished league record and after 99 minutes of football and four goals to boot, Celtic and Aberdeen played out a draw to remain unbeaten in the league.

Jimmy Thelin inspired Aberdeen to claw back from 2-0 down at Celtic Park just as it looked like Rodgers’ side were in complete control.

After the match, Rodgers was reminded of his comments about judging Aberdeen as a title contender to Celtic this season and was asked what he thought of Jimmy Thelin’s side now.

Brendan Rodgers says it’s ‘still very early’ to call Aberdeen as title challengers to Celtic

Rodgers told BBC Sportsound, “Yeah, yeah, they’re a good team. Well coached. I think they’ve got that luxury of having that time, they have no European football, so they can prepare and train and have a good energy getting into each game once a week.

“So yeah, no, they work it well. We should win the game today. There’s absolutely no doubt about that.

Listen to Brendan Rodgers’ full post-match reaction to Celtic’s draw with Aberdeen [19m]

“But once they get the first goal, then it gives them a bit of belief. And then we just couldn’t quite find the killer instinct in that last 50 minutes or so.

“It’s still very early, but they’ve did well today.”

Celtic’s next big test

Celtic now look forward to their next big test as Rodgers now looks to put right the wrong on the Bhoys’ heavy Champions League to Borussia Dortmund this month.

A trip to Atalanta faces Celtic on Wednesday night and Rodgers knows he cannot afford another bruising loss like the one he experienced in Germany.

The Celtic boss will be hoping Cameron Carter-Vickers and Greg Taylor will be fit for that tie as it was clear both players were missed yesterday.

The Serie A side will be a tough opponent for Celtic and they cannot afford the mistakes they served up against Aberdeen or else it could be another long European night for the Hoops support.