Champions Celtic opened their Premiership title defence with a dominant victory over stubborn Aberdeen. With the league flag flying high above Celtic Park again, goals from Stephen Welsh and Jota earned an opening day three points for Ange Postecoglou 's side.
The centre-back's third minute header raised the possibility of a rout unfolding in Glasgow's east end but the Dons, although largely devoid of threat, proved a tough nut to crack for the men in hoops. Indeed, it took until just shy of the 75 minute mark for Celtic to find a crucial second. It arrived in the form a sublime Jota strike from distance that Dons keeper Kelle Roos could do very little about. Postecoglou's side didn't quite hit the enthralling heights they're capable of, but they still did more than enough to claim victory.
There was a familiar look about the Aussie's side - all of them were at Celtic Park last season - while for Aberdeen it was the complete opposite. Jim Goodwin has overseen wholesale changes but his first line-up of the campaign was hamstrung by Liam Scales' ineligibility to face his parent club.
Much of Goodwin's pre-match rhetoric focused on making Celtic uncomfortable, but their defending for Welsh's third minute opener could hardly have been more inviting. Matt O'Riley dropped a corner towards the penalty spot and the centre-back easily brushed Dante Polvara aside to head into the far corner.
From there it was Aberdeen themselves who found any crumb of comfort hard to come by. The Dons defended stoutly but were barely able to string more than two passes together at a time.
Greg Taylor taking up position in centre midfield for much of the half proved troublesome and it allowed Celtic to work the ball wide to Jota and Daizen Maeda as they clung to the touchline. The former almost cut back for O'Riley after driving into the box but a timely toepoke from Anthony Stewart diverted the ball to relative safety.
Reo Hatate and O'Riley then combined sharply, the Japanese international rifling a pass into his team-mate on the left hand side of the area, who spun in an instant a flashed a ball across goal that proved just too heavy for Kyogo to divert on target.
O'Riley, gliding around the pitch at will, then had a curling effort tipped over the bar by Kelle Roos as a second goal appeared to be looming large on Celtic 's horizon. But for all they'd barely had a sniff, Aberdeen should've gone in at half-time on the scoresheet.
Ylber Ramadani found a moment to get his head up for the first time and released Vicente Besuijen in behind and he then picked out the advancing Jonny Hayes with a composed cut-back. Hayes, however, was anything but composed as he took a touch before woefully missing the target with the goal at his mercy.
The pattern of the game deviated little after the break but Aberdeen looked more comfortable in their defensive shape and when Celtic did break, there were often red shirts on hand to throw themselves in front of the ball. Hatate had a shout for a penalty waved away when Anthony Stewart, accidentally tripped by his own team-mate Ross McCrorie, tumbled to the deck in front of the midfielder, forcing him to take evasive action.
As Aberdeen continued to stand firm, you got the feeling it might just take something special to deliver Celtic's crucial second. And so it proved as Jota, who's scored in every game he's played against the Dons, took it upon himself to put the result beyond doubt.
The winger drifted centrally to pick up sub David Turnbull's pass and he muscled his way past Polvara before unleashing an unstoppable drive into the top corner from 25 yards. Giorgos Giakoumakis should've added a third before the whistle called time but, in the end, his uncharacteristic miss mattered little on a positive opening day for the reigning champions.
Dons a work in progress
With important players missing and a first outing at the home of the champions, it's still too early to judge Goodwin's Aberdeen. But after a shaky start they grew into this game. Ramadani, once he found his feet, showed he has a keen eye for a pass and Besuijen appears to be growing in stature.
The loss of infuriatingly cheap goals was probably the defining aspect of their awful 2021/22 campaign and it took just three minutes of the new season for them to do so again. It's something Goodwin will desperately want to cut out.
He'll have Liam Scales back next week, of course, and new captain Anthony Stewart showed promise on his Premiership debut.
Flag day fun
It's little wonder they enjoy the first day of the season so much in these parts. There's been a quite remarkable statistic being thrown around and it's one that won't have filled Aberdeen fans with any confidence.
Celtic haven't lost an opening fixture at home since going down 4-3 to Morton all the way back in... 1950. They were made to work for their three points this afternoon but at no point did it ever really feel like that record could be under threat.
The reigning champions weren't at their scintillating best but were still the dominant force against an Aberdeen side who failed to capitalise on their only chance .
Celtic's depth on show
It's a far cry from last season, where in the depths of a punishing winter schedule Postecoglou was regularly forced to turn to Celtic's academy to just to fill his bench. Here, by contrast, he was able to throw on David Turnbull, Liel Abada and Giorgos Giakoumakis just as his star-studded starting XI began to toil ever so slightly in the face of Aberdeen's defensive stubbornness.
Such is their strength in depth now, Postecoglou didn't even bring on any of the players who arrived for the first time this summer. It's just about the first time in the Aussie's reign that he's had pretty much all his first team stars available to him at the one time.
That breadth of options is going to be so crucial for the manager in the coming weeks and months.
