Celtic Dominates Aberdeen 3-0 as Duran Shines
Camilo Duran delivered another thunderbolt as Celtic swept aside Aberdeen 3-0 to keep their perfect William Hill Premiership start intact.
Benjamin Nygren and Yang Hyun-jun joined him on the scoresheet, the damage done by half-time, the points effectively sealed before Aberdeen had even adjusted to the pace of it.
Duran on fire, Aberdeen overwhelmed
The afternoon began with emotion rather than intensity. Sir Kenny Dalglish stepped onto the pitch to a warm ovation, the 75-year-old reflecting on his debt to Jock Stein, Celtic and the supporters as he continues treatment for cancer. It was a reminder of the club’s lineage. What followed hinted at a future built on new heroes.
Celtic, with Callum McGregor restored to the midfield after illness and Liam Scales in at left-back for the injured Kieran Tierney, settled immediately. They hogged the ball, probed, waited. Then Duran exploded the game into life.
Fourteen minutes in, there looked to be nothing on. Duran took a pass from Nygren, 20 yards out, back to goal, little room, little backlift. He didn’t need it. He smashed a rising drive off the underside of the bar and in, another outrageous addition to a growing personal showreel since his summer move from Qarabag.
That made it six goals in five matches. At this rate, Martin O’Neill will have a serious decision when Kasper Hogh returns from his thigh injury. Duran was signed with the option of playing wide. He now looks undroppable through the middle.
He didn’t stop at the opener. The Colombian drove Celtic forward relentlessly, forcing Marius Muller into four first-half saves and lashing over from a bouncing ball after Yang’s cross had shredded the Aberdeen defence. Every time he got it, Aberdeen backed off a little further.
The visitors did have their moments before the contest ran away from them. Ayoub Mouloua, handed his first start, headed wide from a good position. Nesta Guinness-Walker tried his luck from distance, but Viljami Sinisalo gathered comfortably. Those half-chances felt important at the time. They were swallowed up by what came next.
Ruthless spell kills the contest
Celtic’s second goal arrived on 34 minutes and summed up their sharpness in both thought and execution. Haissem Hassan swung in a cross, Afeez Aremu failed to deal with it, and the ball broke loose on the edge of the area. Nygren pounced first time, right-footed, his strike too powerful for Muller to keep out.
Aberdeen teetered. The margins, though, briefly offered them a lifeline. From Alexander Briedl’s corner, Gavin Molloy rose and crashed a header off the bar. For a split second, it felt like a turning point.
It was. Just not for them.
Celtic broke at pace, ruthlessly. Duran carried the ball, weighed his pass perfectly into Yang’s run, and the South Korean winger drilled a low left-footed finish beyond Muller. One end to the other in seconds. From almost 2-1 to 3-0. The kind of swing that drains belief.
Stephen Robinson had seen enough. At the interval he ripped up his plan, making four changes. Off went Aremu, Briedl, Kevin Nisbet and Mouloua. On came Lewis Smith, Connor Ronan, Toyosi Olusanya and Mitchy Ntelo. It was a statement: pride needed saving, if not the result.
New faces, same control
Aberdeen did at least compete after the restart. Smith tested Sinisalo with a decent effort, and the visitors finally strung some passes together in Celtic territory. The home side, though, never truly lost their grip.
O’Neill used the comfort of the scoreline to introduce two of the week’s signings. Danish midfielder Oliver Sorensen stepped into the fray, followed by on-loan Chelsea forward Shim Mheuka. Both showed glimpses of why Celtic moved for them.
Mheuka, lively and direct, fashioned a chance for himself and drew an excellent one-handed save from Muller. Sorensen arrived onto a first-time left-footed strike but dragged it badly off target. The chances kept coming from all angles.
Muller, easily Aberdeen’s busiest performer, denied Scales and then stood up to efforts from substitutes Mika Baur and James Forrest as Celtic finished with the same authority they had shown from the first whistle.
By then, the contest had long since turned into a training-ground exercise in game management for the champions. The scoreline stayed at three. It could have been worse.
Duran walked off with another wonder goal to his name and a growing case to be the man Celtic build their attack around. If this is what he produces in early September, what might the numbers look like by spring?
