Celtic made it two wins out of two in the Scottish Premiership this season after defeating Aberdeen - who have been tipped by many to finish second this season after many new additions the squad - by two goals to nil. The home team played for the best part of 50 minutes with 10 men after the dismissal of goalkeeper Jamie Langfield.
The Hoops started the game with Georgios Samaras and Kris Commons up front, an odd partnership considering the two are normally deployed as wingers, however the exact same strike force started the second leg of the Elfsborg tie. This perhaps highlights Celtic's need to invest in a centre-forward. Indeed the only striker in the squad for the meeting with Aberdeen was youngster Tony Watt who remained on the bench for the duration of the game.
Aberdeen lined up defensively in a 4-4-1-1 formation with gaffer Derek McInnes opting to go with Calvin Zola sitting behind the ever reliable Niall McGinn, a former Celtic player himself.
The opening half hour was very much a boring and drab affair as neither side had any clear cut chances. It wasn't until the final 15 minutes of the first half that Neil Lennon's side began to take control and pile on the pressure on the Don's defence, their best opportunity was arguably when Joe Ledley forced Jamie Langfield to parry away a low effort destined to curl into the bottom corner.
Just minutes before half-time Celtic were awarded a spot-kick after Langfield brought down Georgios Samaras in a one-on-one situation, after the Greek internationalist had taken the ball past the Aberdeen shot stopper who was shown the red card by the referee for his challenge. On came substitute goalie Nicky Weaver and Calvin Zola was brought off. The resulting penalty was dispatched by Kris Commons, putting the ball straight down the middle as Nicky Weaver dived to his right.
The Hoops started the second half dominating possession and had many chances but they were unable to put the ball in the back of the net. Weaver didn't even have much work to do as most of these shots couldn't find the target.
Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster himself had a relatively easy day in the Celtic goal but he was called into action when kept out Niall McGinn's bullet header from 6 yards, showing terrific reflexes in the process.
Charlie Mulgrew, Joe Ledley and Scott Brown all squandered chances as Celtic looked for a cushion - Neil Lennon obviously wasn't content with the one goal lead. 10 minutes from the end Kris Commons whipped in a costless-kick from the left which managed to find Mikael Lustig in a packed Aberdeen box. The Swede's effort - which came off of his heel - was wonderfully saved by Weaver.
5 minutes from the end, Ledley split the defence beautifully with his through ball to substitute James Forrest, who was forced to take the ball further out left by Mark Reynolds and had no other option but to direct the ball towards goal. His shot clipped the heel of Reynolds and looped over Weaver into the net to all but guarantee Celtic the three points.
Celtic now look forward to Tuesday's Champions League qualifier against Kazakh minnows Shakhtar Karagandy. For Aberdeen, a first competitive defeat under manager Derek McInnes.
