Colby Donovan relishing the challenge of Aberdeen | OneFootball

It’s been a whirlwind start to the season for Colby Donovan, and the Celtic Academy graduate has carried on from making nearly 30 appearances last term in the current absence of Alistair Johnston through injury.

The 19-year-old has stepped into the Canadian World Cup star’s boots with a string of good performances and hasn’t missed a game yet from the half-dozen played so far.

The seventh game of the campaign arrives tomorrow night (Wednesday) when Aberdeen visit Celtic Park, and Donovan and his team-mates are determined maintain Celtic's 100 per cent domestic run so far this term.

The youngster said: “Aberdeen are always tough when we play them at Pittodrie or Celtic Park - there's no difference, they're always a good opposition.

 “They have a good set-up, they've got a good core there, so we know it's going to be a tough game.

And as for replacing an internationalist like Johnston, Donovan said: “Obviously, with that high calibre of Ali as well, he's a good player to look up to, but when he gets injured, you know you never want it to happen, but you've just got to step in to his boots, and hopefully I've done a good job so far,

“But my job's not done yet. It's still a long season to go, so I want to just keep kicking on in every game and see where it takes me.

“After the games, I'll come in next day and he's (Johnston) just talking about how well I've done and what he thinks that I should have done better as well.

“He kind of gives me a wee bit of stick when I need it, so to have him come in and take things out of his game into mine, there's no better person to look up to, is there?”

Despite the right-back playing a starring role in Celtic’s home win over LASK, the only low point this term has been the failure of the side to take that performance into the away leg, meaning the Hoops now look forward to UEFA Europa League football this term.

The Celtic defender said: “Going into the Europa League, we know it's still a top competition and there are still some really good teams in it.

"So, for us to go into this tournament, we're going to do the best we can.

“Even last season, you saw with the Stuttgart game, they gave us a good game at home, but we went over there and I think it was the first time we won in Germany.

“We know we can give these top clubs a real go, so we'll see what happens.”

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Fixtures

Celtic Vs. Aberdeen - Wed, Sep 2nd 2026, 19:45