Aberdeen came to Hampden looking to make a statement against Celtic, despite history being very much against them. The Dons hadn’t defeated Celtic in their last 26 meetings, a sequence stretching back over five years.
They hadn’t beaten them here at Hampden since 1992, with 11 meetings coming and going in the intervening 32 years. Their recent history under Jimmy Thelin though, and their 16-game unbeaten run, had the Red Army believing that this time, it could all be different.
Instead, it was more of the same. And then some.
It was Celtic – and their wing kings Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn in particular - who slapped Thelin’s high-flying side back down to earth in unceremonious fashion, blazing their way into a three-goal lead by the interval through goals from Cameron Carter-Vickers, Kyogo Furuhashi and the brilliant Maeda.
Aberdeen had come from two behind at the break when these sides met on league duty at Celtic Park recently, but that never looked likely here, and Maeda added a quick fourth before the equally impressive Kuhn curled in a fifth.
Maeda then brought up his hat trick late on, tapping home Alistair Johnston’s cross at the back stick to rub salt into Aberdeen wounds.
Here are the talking points from Hampden…
NICKY DEVLIN THE LATEST VICTIM OF MERCILESS MAEDA
The Aberdeen right back has had a sensational time of it of late, making his Scotland debut and scoring the opener against Rangers at Pittodrie during the week to cap off a hugely impressive start to the season.
Like so many full backs before him though, he fell victim here to the relentless energy and boundless running of Maeda, who had him pinned back from the opening stages, seemingly scrambling his brain with his pace and pressing.
The danger signs were flashing almost from the off, with Maeda beating Devlin to a loose ball and forcing Slobodan Rubezic to halt him with a bodycheck, and things went downhill for Devlin from there.
By the time Maeda had slipped his clutches to square for Kyogo to score Celtic’s second, Devlin was all over the place, and he fell yards deeper than the rest of his backline to play the Celtic winger onside to add a third after being slipped in by Kuhn.
It was a sobering afternoon for the Dons and for Devlin especially, and it will be a real test of their character to bounce back from such a humbling evening. Past history would suggest that Devlin, at the very least, will meet that challenge head on.
KUHN JUST ECLIPSED, BUT DAZZLES NONETHELESS
As for Celtic, with Maeda and Kuhn in such form, it may prove impossible for any domestic opponent to keep pace with them.
The German was unlucky to be shaded for the man of the match by Maeda with the sort of performance that has now become expected of him after the inconsistent start to his Celtic career last season.
He has the pace to spook his direct opponent, the composure to thread a through ball, his decision making has improved no end and, as we saw here, he has a finish in his locker too. A brilliant display.
TIRED ABERDEEN, OR OMINOUS SIGNS FOR TITLE RACE?
If we are being generous to Aberdeen – and perhaps they have earned the benefit of the doubt after their incredible start to the season – we might say that the Herculean effort they expelled to overcome Rangers at Pittodrie on Wednesday night had taken it out of them.
Either way, Celtic were simply too hot for them to handle once they put their foot down, and that may be foreshadowing what is to come in the title race, at least on this evidence.
To say that the opening to the game was lacking in quality would be an understatement on the scale of describing referee Kevin Clancy as ‘a little card-happy’ in the first half of this one, with the humourless ref even booking Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers after he fell on his backside to much mirth all round while booting the ball away in frustration.
When the deadlock was indeed broken, the part Aberdeen played in it was in-keeping with the sloppy nature of the play to that point.
The Dons had numerous chances to clear the ball before the persistence of the Celtic attack, and Kyogo in particular, forced them into conceding a corner.
From a Celtic point of view, there was indeed quality then on show at long last from Arne Engels, as his wicked delivery into the area seemed to strike panic into the Aberdeen defence, affording Carter-Vickers the space to head home.
The Dons were again their own worst enemy as Rubezic was hesitant to allow Maeda to steal in and set Celtic away for their second, and from there, it was just a question of how many Celtic would win by. As it turned out, quite a few.
CARTER-VICKERS FORMING A TRUSTY PARTNERSHIP?
Celtic manager Rodgers decided to stick with the American duo at the heart of his defence after they shut out Dundee during the week, and the duo performed well again here, albeit under little pressure from the dismal Dons.
Liam Scales has performed brilliantly for Rodgers since his unlikely Celtic salvation last season, but it will be interesting to see if the Celtic manager settles on a preferred partnership going forward.
PYRO PLEAS FALL ON DEAF EARS
It ended up a footnote to the action, but kick off was held up by 13 minutes until the smoke cleared from the pre-match pyro displays, with the pleadings of Celtic manager Rodgers for his club’s supporters to cut out this sort of behaviour falling on deaf ears.
In fairness, there was the odd smoke bomb from the Aberdeen end too, and the harr hung heavy over Hampden with no wind in the air to clear it, forcing the players to open up a bag of balls to keep themselves warm.
Leaving aside the arguments for and against pyro, and the safety concerns against what such displays add to the spectacle, the one indisputable fact here is that it didn’t help either set of players in their preparation to play such a huge match to have to hang around for another quarter of an hour or so before they could get underway.
After Celtic’s second goal, unbelievably, the section of Celtic Ultras behind the goal lit up again, but thankfully this time the play was unaffected. As those fans seem to be by the fines being handed out to their club.
