It’s been a while but at long last Celtic is back with trip to the North-East to play Aberdeen at Pittodrie as Ange Postecoglou’s side look to pick up where they left off against Ross County five weeks ago and pick up three points to restore their nine points lead at the top of the league looking down on the VAR assisted Rangers…
Team News
Callum McGregor returns is the headline news. Injured against RB Leipzig in Germany early in October The Celtic squad coped admirably in the league, winning every game in his absence. But Calmac is the leader on and off the park and is also a top footballer, so his return is a massive boost for Celtic.
James McCarthy is still out with his hamstring injury, while Josip Juranovic is still in Qatar, but will miss the World Cup Third Place play-off against Morocco today due ti a calf injury. He’ll then get a week off before returning to Celtic.
The other three Celtic players who played at the World Cup, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Daizen Maeda and Aaron Mooy are all back in the squad for today’s trip to Pittodrie and are available for selection. Meanwhile Stephen Welsh picked up an injury in the last day of the warm weather training camp in the Algarve last week and will miss out.
⛄️ A snowy rescue
💪 Want to return even stronger
🔴 Aberdeen test
👏 McGregor returnsAnge Postecoglou is preparing for Celtic’s season return at Aberdeen after helping some motorists stuck in the snow ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/UngGO8v1l3
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) December 16, 2022
Predicted Team
Ange Postecoglou pointed out that anyone second guessing his team selections only knows about 10% of what he does when considering the matter but it’s nice to try, especially as we’re keen to get 11/11 one week. We’ve had a few tens so far.
For today’s match against Aberdeen we’re go with this starting eleven…
Joe Hart, Anthony Ralston, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Carl Starfelt, Greg Taylor, Callum McGregor (c), Reo Hatate, Matt O’Riley, Sead Hakšabanović, Kyogo and Jota.
(It was a close call between Sead Hakšabanović and Liel Abada).
Match Officials
The referee at Pittodrie today is Steven McLean and his assistants are Calum Spence and
Craig Ferguson. The Fourth Official is Alan Newlands and the ‘Ludge’ VAR operators are Kevin Clancy and his assistant Sean Carr.
Kick-off time
The Scottish Premiership match between Aberdeen v Celtic at Pittodrie kicks off at 12.30pm.
Where to Watch
Today’s game is live on Sky Sports while subscribers to Celtic TV outside of Britain and Ireland can watch the match on the club’s own channel. An Audio-only service is also available to subscribers based in Britain or Ireland via Celtic TV.
COYBIG
🟢 #CELTICFC MATCHDAY ⚪️
🆚 Aberdeen
🏆 #cinchPrem
⌚ 12:30pm
🏟️ Pittodrie
💻 Live on @CelticTV (exc. UK & IRE)
📺 Live on @ScotlandSky
#ABECEL | #COYBIG | #ShareTheMagic✨🍀 pic.twitter.com/3pOEK0aIda— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) December 17, 2022
