Celtic vs Aberdeen. Scottish Premiership.
Celtic ParkAttendance58,824.
Celtic 2-0 Aberdeen: Stephen Welsh and Jota score as the Scottish Premiership champions impress in opener
Match report as Celtic started their Scottish Premiership title defence with a 2-0 win over Aberdeen; Stephen Welsh headed in the opener in the third minute; Jota doubled the lead after an earlier goal was flagged offside
Monday 1 August 2022 09:39, UK
Celtic got their Scottish Premiership title defence off to a winning start as Stephen Welsh and Jota scored in either half to earn a 2-0 win over Aberdeen.
Defender Stephen Welsh headed in an early goal as the Hoops dominated from the first whistle.
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Jota made it 2-0 deep into the second half after the Portuguese winger saw his earlier goal flagged offside.
Aberdeen's best chance fell to Jonny Hayes, but the former Celtic man flashed his shot wide of the post.
It is a very different Celtic to the side who lost their opening game of last season before recovering to beat Old Firm rivals Rangers to the title.
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A winning start to Celtic's title defence
Ange Postecoglou went for continuity with seven of his starting XI featuring in the final game of last season.
New summer signings Ben Siegrist, Aaron Mooy, Mortiz and Alexandro Bernabei took their place on the bench.
It was an Aberdeen debut for Hayden Coulson while goalkeeper Kelle Roos, Jayden Richardson, Anthony Stewart, Ylber Ramadani and Bojan Miovski made their first Scottish Premiership appearances.
It was a party atmosphere at Celtic Park as the championship flag was unfurled ahead of kick-off, known as flag day, and the players wasted no time in showing their intent for the new season.
Stephen Welsh, making his first competitive start since February, rose to head in from Matt O'Riley's corner kick in just the third minute to fire the champions ahead to a rapturous noise from the Celtic support.
A mix up between Joe Hart and his defence almost allowed Bojan Miovski to steal the ball and score five minutes later, but the keeper managed to clear the ball before some harsh words to his team-mates.
Celtic recovered quickly and Reo Hatate took aim from just outside the box, but his shot was easily gathered by Kelle Roos in the Aberdeen goal.
Kyogo Furuhashi then tested Roos but the Dons keeper managed to push the ball to safety.
New Aberdeen signing Dante Polvara did well to clear Jota's cut-back to stop O'Riley making it 2-0 before Kyogo saw his effort go just past the post.
O'Riley then took a chance from the edge of the box with Roos getting a touch to tip the ball over the bar.
Hart was called into action in the Celtic goal after 35 minutes, but it was a routine save to deny Matty Kennedy.
Jota had the ball in the net a minute later but the Portuguese winger, who made his move permanent during the summer, was well offside.
Another chance came Aberdeen's way before the break as Vincent Besuijen set up Jonny Hayes in front of goal - Hart was rooted to the spot, but his shot flashed wide of the post.
Celtic wanted a second before the half-time whistle, but Anthony Stewart slid in to divert the ball from Kyogo, with the Japanese striker in a great position to score.
Jota whipped a cross into the box early in the second half, but once again Dons defender Stewart was there to clear the danger.
Next Josip Juranovic got in on the action with a shot from distance, but Roos showed his form again to deny the defender.
Celtic were then screaming for a penalty after Hatate went to ground under a challenge from Stewart, but referee Nick Walsh waved play on.
The champions continued to push for a second and Jota curled a shot over the crossbar before Roos denied substitute Liel Abada.
Celtic did finally get their second in the 75th minute.
Roos had impressed for Aberdeen but he had no chance of stopping Jota as he skipped past a challenge before firing into the top corner.
The visitors did have a chance to pull a goal back when Polvara's header took a deflection, but Hart reacted quickly to tip the ball over the crossbar.
New signing Aaron Mooy came on for his Celtic debut before Giorgos Giakoumakis passed up a chance to make it 3-0 - the goal was gaping as he met a pass from David Turnbull but he knocked it wide.
What the managers said
Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou is demanding better from his players despite their opening day victory:
"Overall a decent performance, but I thought we were wasteful in front of goal and we could've been a bit more clinical.
"You can be patient, but if the chances are there you've got to take them as well and then the game changes.
"We've got goal scorers right throughout the team, but I just thought today we lacked a little decisiveness in front of goal.
"I've said to all the boys you can have lofty ambitions but ultimately you've got to be at your best all the time.
"You can't be at 95% and achieve what we want to achieve."
Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin said it was a tough challenge for his new signings:
"I think it was a bit of a baptism of fire for some of the new guys in there, I tried to explain to them after the game that you don't come up against that level of opposition every week.
"You can't give a team of Celtic's quality a goal start, we started the game in the worst possible manner.
"In fairness the boys kept going and tried to get a way back into the game, but ultimately Celtic were the better team on the day and deserved the victory in the end.
"It's a very difficult result for us to take here today because I did feel coming into the game, with the kind of momentum we had from the League Cup group stage, that we could have got something from the game."
What's next
Celtic travel to face Ross County in their first away game of the new Scottish Premiership season on August 6.
Aberdeen host St Mirren on the same day. Both games kick-off at 3pm.
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