Ten in a row over Aberdeen - Ranked

There’s a few things we’re sure of in life.

One of them is a mundane and boring John Lewis Christmas advert every year, the other is a contradictory tweet by Donald Trump and finally, there’s always Celtic making an example of Scottish Fitba’s perennial losers Aberdeen FC.

Yesterday was the ninth time Brendan Rodgers faced Derek McInnes since he took over as manager in 2016, and it was his ninth win in a row over the greatest pretenders of all time, and including Ronny Deila’s win over them back in May of that particular year, the run now stretches to ten straight victories.

Here, we rank the wins from easiest to ‘toughest’ :

1: Celtic 3-0 Aberdeen, Betfred Cup Final, November 2016

It’s rare that a cup final against an ‘established’ opponent is far easier than the semi final before it against a team managed by Mark ‘No Plan B’ Warburton but the ease in which Celtic claimed the Betfred Cup in 2016 was nothing short of embarrassing for Derek McInnes pathetically inept side. Their hilariously scripted huddle set the tone of laughter and mocking before a ball was kicked, and their performance on the pitch was just as pathetic. The easiest cup final victory you are ever likely to see.

2. Aberdeen 0-3 Celtic, Scottish Premiership, October 2017.

Aberdeen were unbeaten and on the same number of points going into this game at Pittodrie, and after our dodgy defensive display against Hibs a few days before at Hampden, the bluster was strong from the Seagull Loyal pre-match, with ‘statements of intent’ planned ahead of Celtic’s visit. Once again, the ‘second best team in Scotland’ collapsed in a heap when Kieran Tierney smashed the ball home to give us the lead, and the rest of the game resembled something of a training exercise for the Champions.

3. Celtic 3-0 Aberdeen, Scottish Premiership, December 2017

T’was a couple of days before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring and not even a mouse was quaking at the sight of any Aberdeen players attempting to open their presents early, instead choosing to stand firm and wait for them to bottle it from them, like they did on this occasion at Celtic Park, again offering very little in the way of attacking threat, and even Kenny McLean giftwrapped a personal present for Olivier Ntcham to round off another simple victory over the kid on challengers.

4. Aberdeen 0-1 Celtic, Scottish Premiership, October 2016

Aberdeen were only six points behind the Champions going into this game at Pittodrie and had a big chance to half the deficit to three, but in typical fashion, started slowly and allowed us to control the game, with Tom Rogic’s 23rd minute finish settling the match. The Dons ‘late flurry’ was heavily exaggerated, with Celtic’s worst enemy being themselves, squandering many chances to kill the game off in the second half, but as always against Aberdeen, and as The Rock would preach - it didn’t matter.

5. Aberdeen 0-2 Celtic, Scottish Premiership, February 2018

Knackered. Out of form. There for the taking. Yes, that was Celtic yesterday, and Aberdeen STILL couldn’t muster up a fight and once again laid down the red carpet for us to trample all over them. The moment Moussa Dembele powerfully headed us into the lead, the game yet again was finished, and to patronise McInnes and his bottlers even more, we clinched the points despite going down to ten men after Mikael Lustig was sent off with fifteen minutes to go. Truly pitiful stuff from a team who seem determined for people to take them seriously. Good luck with that lads!

6. Celtic 3-2 Aberdeen , Scottish Premiership, May 2016

It’s a testament to Ronny Deila’s tenure as Celtic manager that even when 3-0 up at home, you were never quite certain we would hold out for the win. Unless of course, we were playing Aberdeen! Our favourite rollovers (that aren’t hot dogs) made the trip to Glasgow and offered very little resistance to stop us making it five titles in a row. Despite two goals in five minutes, the Dons were never serious enough to threaten us with an equaliser and this would go onto be the start of the ten!

7. Celtic 1-0 Aberdeen, Scottish Premiership, February 2017

A largely forgettable game settled by a headed winner by Boyata ensuring we stretched our lead in the league over Aberdeen to a ridiculous twenty five points.

8. Celtic 4-1 Aberdeen, Scottish Premiership, August 2016

Admittedly a scoreline that flattered Celtic, with Aberdeen more than competitive until the last few minutes when Scott Sinclair scored one of about a million penalties this particular season, and Tom Rogic scoring his first of many against them. McInnes set up his side relatively well against us in this game, yet was still on the end of a 4-1 hammering, says it all.

9. Aberdeen 1-3 Celtic, Scottish Premiership, May 2017

In the ‘dress rehearsal’ for the Scottish Cup final later in May 2017, Aberdeen promised they would set the tone for the game at Hampden with a strong performance against the treble chasers, and were true to their word.................after giving us a three goal start in the first eleven minutes!

In fairness to them, their response was impressive, and they could have been going in at half time on level terms if they had taken two of several chances they created after their abhorrent opening quarter of an hour, but nonetheless, the bottom line remained that Celtic once again came back from Pittodrie with three points, and with this match in particular being the one many people expected to be the toughest challenge to the invincible run, it ended up being the most routine one of the run in, alongside the game at Ibrox a week or so beforehand.

10. Celtic 2-1 Aberdeen, Scottish Cup, May 2017

Arguably our toughest match against Aberdeen, and they even took the lead against us when Jonny Hayes smashed from a corner, but in typical fashion, they let us back into the game a minute later when Stuart Armstrong buried a left foot shot past Lewis to equalise. In a fairly even game, they spurned a golden opportunity to take the lead when Kenny McLean couldn’t nudge in Hayes cross with the goal gaping, and half an hour later, this miss would prove crucial as Tom Rogic wriggled his way into the box to slot home to deliver the undefeated treble.

Aberdeen..............Thank You.