DONS TAUGHT A HARSH LESSON Outplayed for 90 minutes, they couldn’t get close to land a punch

Aberdeen’s challenge is dismissed with disdain as Celtic show they are an unstoppable force

THIS was supposed to be it. The night Celtic’s 60-match unbeaten run finally rumbled to an end. A night when the travails of Champions League football and three games a week finally elicited a harsh toll. We should all know better by now.

This was a ruthless display from Scotland’s champions. Both sides began the night in high spirits, unbeaten in their opening nine league games.

It had taken a last-minute Tom Rogic goal to settle their Scottish Cup Final meeting in May and suspicions that this might be the night Brendan Rodgers finally tasted his first domestic defeat in 17 months as Celtic manager were widely aired. Some chance.

Celtic’s all-time club record of 62 domestic games unbeaten is now firmly within their sights against Kilmarnock on Saturday. Frankly, few will bet against them.

Days before the cup final in May, Rodgers and his side came to Pittodrie and inflicted a night of shock and awe on the Granite City, scoring three goals in the opening ten minutes. Aberdeen made a game of it thanks to a Jonny Hayes goal. When the former Dons talisman emerged from the Celtic bench 13 minutes from time last night — the game already won — it just added insult to injury.

It’s now 11 months since these sides met in the Betfred Cup final at Hampden. Aberdeen didn’t turn up that day, losing 3-0. The parallels here were hard to ignore.

The BT Sport stats told no lies. Celtic enjoyed 71-per-cent possession in the first half and 63 in the second. Outplayed for 90 minutes, Aberdeen couldn’t get close enough to land a punch.

From the moment Kieran Tierney hammered Celtic into the lead in 13 minutes, they wrapped themselves around a cowed opponent and squeezed. By half-time, Aberdeen were two down going on four, Tierney’s darting run and superb cross laying the second goal on a plate for Moussa Dembele.

Derek McInnes usually stands accused of overthinking things in games like these. Adopting a conservative approach. That couldn’t be said here.

Aiming to emulate their stirring performance in May’s Hampden defeat, he started Adam Rooney up top. Stevie May played off him, Gary Mackay-Steven in support. He sought to go toe-to-toe with a team who, when push comes to shove, have bigger resources and better players. If the final scoreline flattered anyone, it was Aberdeen.

Two low, long-range strikes from captain Graeme Shinnie in the opening ten minutes notwithstanding, service to front men was scant. Aberdeen simply couldn’t get hold of the ball. Standing off as Celtic passed it from pillar to post, a sell-out home crowd spent the night in a state of bewildered silence, booing their team from the pitch at half-time. At the home of their closest challengers, Celtic were sharp and composed.

After a chastening defeat to Bayern Munich and a cup semifinal against Hibs, Rodgers was always expected to make changes. Dembele came in for a benched Leigh Griffiths, James Forrest for Patrick Roberts, Callum McGregor for Scott Sinclair. The fresh legs worked a treat.

Reports suggest Tottenham are taking a growing interest in Tierney. Performances like this show why.

The Scotland left-back opened the scoring with a stunning finish. Rogic was at the heart of so much of what Celtic did, the Australian turning a Dedryck Boyata pass into the path of Dembele. Bursting into the area, the Frenchman outstripped Kari Arnason for pace, thumping a low ball across the face of goal. The cross was beyond McGregor, but perfect for Tierney to sneak in at the back post and smash an angled leftfoot strike into the corner off the underside of the bar.

For long spells, Celtic had the run of the place. Rogic cut in from the right flank and found space for a curling left-foot strike parried at the last by Dons keeper Joe Lewis. A piece of simulation dressed up as a penalty claim for Dembele finally stirred a subdued home support. Many then channelled their growing frustration in the direction of referee Craig Thomson when Arnason’s trailing leg caught Rogic on the edge of the area. With no Griffiths on the field, Stuart Armstrong dinked a curling effort wide.

As half-time approached, Celtic’s only concern was the scoreline failing to reflect their dominance.

They needn’t have concerned themselves. A second goal came from Dembele in 39 minutes, yet the credit belonged to Tierney.

Collecting a throw-in on the halfway line, he galloped down the left flank and nutmegged Shay Logan before curling a superb cross to the back post where Dembele bundled home from close range.

Expectations that Aberdeen would come out fighting had proved misplaced. The visitors were utterly relentless. Two goals up, they began the second half with a foot on their opponents’ throat and squeezed.

The third goal should have come minutes before it did. Teed up by Mikael Lustig, the classy Rogic deserved a goal but curled a fine chance wide of the far post.

A minute later, heroic defending from Arnason prevented the Dons falling further behind, blocking Dembele’s effort after Lewis parried a low Forrest shot.

It was merely delaying the inevitable. Make no mistake, Celtic played the second half in second gear. And still looked capable of scoring at will against an opponent unable to compete.

For young Scott McKenna, this was a reality check. The Dons central defender has earned deserved praise for his displays in the three clean sheets which preceded this game.

The closest he got to Dembele last night was a crude challenge and a booking in 63 minutes.

A probing Armstrong free-kick thumped beyond the far post picked out Boyata, the Belgian’s header across the face of goal nodded into the unguarded net by an unmarked Dembele. Aberdeen howled in vein for an offside flag which never arrived. Followed swiftly by a penalty which never came for Scott Brown’s hand ball.

‘We are invincible,’ roared 2,000 Celtic fans. In a domestic context, it’s difficult to put up an argument.

ABERDEEN (4-2-3-1): Lewis 5; Logan 4, Arnason 6, McKenna 5, Considine 5; Shinnie 5, O’Connor 5; McLean 4, Mackay-Steven 4 (Tansey 67), May 4 (Maynard 77); Rooney 4 (Wright 58). Subs not used: Rogers, Reynolds, Stewart, Ball. Booked: Arnason, O’Connor, McKenna.

CELTIC (4-2-3-1): Gordon 6; Lustig 6, Bitton 6, Boyata 7, Tierney 8; Brown 7, McGregor 7; Forrest 7, Rogic 7 (Sinclair 72), Armstrong 7; Dembele 8 (Griffiths 82).

Subs not used: de Vries, Ajer, Ntcham, Hayes, Roberts.

Booked: None. Man of the match: Kieran Tierney. Referee: Craig Thomson. Attendance: 20,528.