Brendan Rodgers expects Celtic side to get ‘better and better’ after Aberdeen win made it two victories in a row to begin their Premiership title defence.
Celtic took the lead with 11 minutes on the clock, although the fans had to wait to celebrate Liel Abada’s opener after it was initially ruled out for offside. VAR proved that the Isreali winger was behind the play as he tapped the ball in for an early lead.
It was an advantage that lasted only a quarter of an hour however, as Aberdeen’s forward duo combined to excellent effect. Duk latched on to a perfect bending cross into the area from Ryan Duncan, before sliding the ball into Bojan Miovski who swept home to level the scores.
Brendan Rodgers away side would go ahead again before the break though after a calamitous moment in the Aberdeen defence. Nicky Devlin, on his Dons home debut, left a header back to Kelle Roos short allowing last season top scorer Kyogo to race in and finish smartly beyond the home goalkeeper.
The visitors added a third with six minutes left to play as Matt O’Riley added to his opening day strike to make in two-in-two for the midfielder. Yang Hyun-Jun came off the bench to provide some quick feet before firing a ball across the Aberdeen box for O’Riley to finish.
Despite the 3-1 victory Rodgers knows there is still room for improvement in his side:
“There’s lots to work on but I think it’s the beauty of the squad that they want to learn and want to be better. There’s many areas we can improve on and that’s the beauty of it it’s still early on in the season. It’s a long way to go but I think each day they will get better and better. Whilst you’re looking to improve performance level, it’s important to win”
Cameron Carter-Vickers and Reo Hatate both left the field due to injury and the boss provided an update on two of the stalwarts for last season champions.
“Hopefully he’s okay. He felt his hamstring so we’ll have to assess that” Rodgers said of Carter-Vickers. “Reo felt an issue in his calf so we’ll see how that is in the next couple of days”.
