Cameron Carter-Vickers put in a strong performance for Celtic as they ground out a win over Christian Ramierz and Aberdeen in action from the Scottish Premiership over the weekend.
Celtic 2-1 Aberdeen
Goals in both halves helped Celtic to a narrow win over Aberdeen at Celtic Park as they try to narrow the points gap on their Glasgow rivals, Rangers, in the Scottish Premiership standings.
Cameron Carter-Vickers went the distance for Celtic, completing 95 percent of his passes and winning one aerial battle. Meanwhile, Christian Ramirez had a very quiet outing for Aberdeen as he complete 77 percent of his passes, won an aerial battle, and had zero shots in 90 minutes of action.
The hosts started off strongly and scored 20 minutes into the contest when David Turnbull played the ball to Callum McGregor on the left side before the club captain slid a pass across to Jota to slot home.
Celtic’s lead did not last long as the referee pointed to the spot for a penalty when Liel Abada tripped up David Bates in the area following an Aberdeen corner kick. Lewis Ferguson then stepped up to put away the spot-kick just after the half-hour mark to level the score.
The goal pushed Celtic to find a way to retake the lead. Turnbull, McGregor, Jota, and Josip Juranovic all had efforts just missing the mark.
The Hoops were finally rewarded with the game-winner in the 60th minute under bizarre circumstances. Abada’s effort was blocked by Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis which then led to Jonathan Hayes trying to clear the ball from the area. However, McGregor somehow blocked the clearance with his foot while he was jumping and the ball was redirected towards the goal.
Celtic pushed for more goals to put the game out of reach, but could not find it. That left visitors with a chance to steal a point in the dying minutes of the game from a corner kick, but Juranovic provided the heroics as he headed the ball away from danger.
The win leaves Celtic in second place in the standings with 29 points, four behind Rangers. Aberdeen drops to eighth place with 15 points.
Notes
In other Premiership action, Ian Harkes played the full 90 minutes as Dundee United shared the points with Ross County following a 1-1 draw.