Five-star Celts sink Aberdeen at Pittodrie | OneFootball

Scottish PremiershipWednesday, May 14, 2025Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen

ABERDEEN…1(Nisbet 42)

CELTIC…5(Nawrocki 31, Yang 45 +8, McCowan 48, Kenny 54, Idah 90 +4 )

So much has been made about Celtic’s consistency throughout the season, and the travelling Celtic support at Pittodrie were treated to a perfect example of that consistency as the Champions turned on the style and thrashed Aberdeen 5-1 at Pittodrie.

With just under five minutes gone, the Celts worked their first chance of the match, with Luke McCowan releasing Anthony Ralston on the right wing with a clever back-heel. Ralston’s deep cross to the back post found Yang, but the winger’s headed effort drifted over the bar.

Ten minutes later, Paulo Bernardo had a good opportunity to give the Hoops an early lead after Yang evaded two Aberdeen defenders and cut the ball back to the Portuguese midfielder in the penalty area, but his shot was straight at the home side’s keeper, Mitov, who parried it away.

Despite numerous changes to the starting XI, Brendan Rodgers’ men were in control of the game, as they so often have been this season, and were cutting Aberdeen open at will throughout the first 30 minutes of the match.

And the opening goal which Celtic deserved came in the 31st minute when Luke McCowan whipped a cross in to the box from a corner, which Maik Nawrocki headed into the bottom corner to claim his first Celtic goal and to put the Hoops 1-0 ahead.

There was a break in play only a few moments after Nawrocki’s opener, with an Aberdeen supporter requiring urgent medical attention in the crowd. Both Celtic and Aberdeen’s first-team medical staff attended the incident before the supporter could be safely taken from the stadium to receive further treatment.

And just after the restart, Aberdeen grabbed an equaliser through Kevin Nisbet, who got on to the end of a looping ball from Gueye and sent a header beyond Sinisalo to make it 1-1.

The home side, buoyed by their equaliser, began to grow in to the game as the half neared its conclusion, but the Champions showed their resilience, keeping Aberdeen at bay and keeping the match level.

And in the eighth minute of added on time at the end of the half, that resilience turned to quality once again, as James Forrest waltzed into the box from the right wing and sent a ball across the face of goal which reached Yang, who fired a shot in to the back of the net to restore Celtic’s lead just before the break.

Three minutes in to the second half, Celtic's lead was extended to 3-1 after another fine bit of play from James Forrest created a chance for Luke McCowan, who fired a shot into the top corner with an emphatic finish

The second half could not have started better for Celtic, and with 53 minutes on the clock it was 4-1 and the game was put beyond Aberdeen.

This time, McCowan turned provider, tearing away down the left wing before sending a cross into the box which was met by Johnny Kenny who, making his first start for Celtic, claimed his first goal for the Hoops with an excellent header into the bottom corner of the net.

For all that Celtic’s attacking play will rightly take the headlines from tonight’s match, the Hoops also defended as though the title was still up for grabs, with players putting their bodies on the line at pivotal moments to keep Aberdeen out and to protect the lead, whilst between the sticks, Sinisalo made some good stops as the last line of defence.

Things went from bad to worse for the home side in the 78th minute when Alfie Dorrington was shown a second yellow card and sent off for a cynical foul on Adam Idah, who was charging through towards goal at the time.

As the match entered the final 10 minutes, the chances continued to come for the Celts, with both Adam Idah and Jeffrey Schlupp unlucky not to score with efforts from inside the box.

Celtic were forced to finish the match with 10 men after Reo Hatate was left feeling the effects of a poor tackle from Aberdeen’s Pape Gueye, who appeared to follow through with a heavy challenge on the Japanese midfielder on the halfway line.

The goalscoring wasn’t finished, however, with Adam Idah slotting home a finish from six yards out in the fourth minute of injury time to make it 5-1 to Celtic.

The Champions will now look ahead to their match against St Mirren at Celtic Park on Saturday and what is sure to be another special occasion as the Celts lift their fourth consecutive Scottish Premiership title at a packed out Paradise.