Aberdeen v Celtic – Team news, referee details, KO time & where to watch

Celtic travelled up to the North East this afternoon to their overnight base in the Granite City ahead of tomorrow evening’s must win Scottish Premiership fixture at Pittodrie against Aberdeen…

The Pittodrie pitch this afternoon.
. Aberdeen v Celtic – postponed following a pitch inspection. Photo Chris Sutton

The match was initially scheduled for early last month but was postponed just a few hours before kick-off with the travelling Celtic support of around 1800 already on their way to the game. The late-call off was due to a waterlogged pitch with a goal mouth holding water and on inspection the ball wouldn’t bounce.

Aberdeen have not had their troubles to seek on the pitch and have now no chance of making the top six as they have fallen 13 points behind Falkirk who are clear from the chasing pack with the bottom six set the be Dundee united, Aberdeen, Dundee, St Mirren, Kilmarnock and Livingston.

Aberdeen celebrate
Photo: Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

With their own Scottish Cup quarter final away to Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline on Saturday night, the current holders will be well aware that one of the two Glasgow giants will exit the competition the next day and they will want to be in the hat for the semi-final draw as they try to retain the trophy won by Jimmy Thelin’s side last May in a penalty shoot-out against Celtic.

Perhaps Aberdeen will have one eye on East End Park tomorrow night? That would certainly suit Celtic.

Martin O’Neill spoke to the mainstream media this afternoon at Lennoxtown and before that had a word with Sky Sports who are showing the re-arranged fixture live tomorrow night. A win will take Celtic above theRangers into second spot, still five points behind Hearts.

Ahead of the split Celtic have to play Aberdeen (A), Motherwell (H), Dundee United (A), Dundee (A) and St Mirren (H).

Celtic will have THREE home matches after the split and two away from home. The home games will be against Hearts, theRangers and probably Falkirk with the away games against Motherwell and Hibs.

Celtic Team News

Viljami Sinisalo of Celtic
Viljami Sinisalo of Celtic applauds the fans prior to the Scottish Premiership match between theRangers and Celtic at Ibrox on March 01, 2026. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)

Martin O’Neill confirmed that Kasper Schmeichel did not travel today on medical advice but he should be back in contention for this weekend’s trip to Ibrox in the Scottish Cup. However Viljami Sinisalo has the gloves and it’s going to be difficult to change that in the short to medium term at least.

The Celtic manager reported on one or two slight niggles but gave no names, so we can only assume that they’ll all be available after their exertions at Ibrox.

Julian Araujo holds the Celtic badge
Julian Araujo holds the Celtic badge at Ibrox. theRangers 2 Celtic 2.  1st March 2026. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

So Sinisalo starts and the back four – with Auston Trusty still suspended will be the same again with the hugely popular Julian Araujo at right-back Dane Murray alongside Liam Scales in the centre of the Celtic defence and Kieran Tierney, who spoke to the media today, at left back.

Reo Hatate scores at Ibrox
Reo Hatate scores at Ibrox. theRangers 2 Celtic 2. Sunday 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

Reo Hatate has more than earned a starting spot alongside Callum McGregor and Benjamin Nygren can float around before hitting the back of the net. Like Reo, Daizen Maeda earned his place as the striker tomorrow night and Sebastian Tounekti too showed enough at Ibrox in that dominant second half showing for Celtic to get the nod. At right back Yang should keep his place too.

Predicted Celtic Team

Barring any of those niggles being more serious that MON’s letting on this we predict will be the Celtic team to start at Pittodrie.

Sinisalo; Araujo, Murray, Scales, Tierney; McGregor, Hatate, Nygren; Yang, Maeda and Tounekti.

Kieran Tierney celebrates
Kieran Tierney celebrates after scoring at Ibrox. theRangers v Celtic. 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou
Subs: Doohan, Saracchi, Donovan, Arthur, Ralston, McCowan, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adamu, Cvancara and Forrest.
James Forrest at Ibrox.
James Forrest at Ibrox. theRangers 2 Celtic 2. Sunday 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

A shout out to Jamesie for that brilliant cross for Daizen’s header that caused the penalty at Ibrox. A real difference maker from the bench and he always gets better as we reach this time of the season. Brendan knew that, hopefully someone tells Martin. We would but we’re still banned.

Match Officials

Nick Walsh
Referee Nick Walsh. Celtic v theRangers. Premier Sports Cup, semi final at Hampden. 2 November 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

The Scottish FA has confirmed that Nick Walsh will officiate Wednesday night’s clash at Pittodrie. He will be supported by assistants Daniel McFarlane and Colin Drummond, while Chris Graham will handle VAR duties from Clydesdale House alongside Duncan Williams.

Walsh has overseen three Celtic matches so far this season. His first appointment came in November’s Premier Sports League Cup semi-final against the Ibrox club at Hampden, where O’Neill’s men ran out 3-1 winners after extra time courtesy of strikes from Callum McGregor and Callum Osmand.

Callum McGregor and James Forrest of Celtic lift the League trophy
Callum McGregor and James Forrest of Celtic lift the League trophy after the William Hill Premiership match between Celtic FC and St Mirren FC at Celtic Park on May 17, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Walsh was also in charge of Celtic’s 2-1 victory away to Hibernian later that month, before refereeing their most recent 4-0 home win over Dundee United at Celtic Park in January.

The experienced UEFA referee has taken charge of three Aberdeen fixtures during the current campaign. These include their opening-day loss to Hearts at Tynecastle, a goalless draw with Livingston and their visit to Ibrox, where they were beaten 2-0.

Kick-off Time

The re-arranged Scottish Premiership fixture at Pittodrie between Aberdeen and Celtic kicks off at 8pm.*

Where to Watch

Pitch unplayable at Pittodrie
Pitch unplayable at Pittodrie. Aberdeen Celtic match postponed. Photo Sky Sports

Sky Sports were set to show the match a month ago and quickly confirmed that they would show the re-arranged fixture tomorrow evening. Chris Sutton had travelled up to Aberdeen from down south at the start of February so he’ll be hoping that the Pittodrie pitch is up to the appropriate standard tomorrow night.

Celtic TV will also be showing the game live and this service is available to subscribers based outside of Britain and Ireland.

Predicted Score

Aberdeen have nothing to lose here, but also nothing to play for with their bottom six place assured. Their focus will very much be on getting past Dunfermline on Saturday evening to get back to Hampden. Celtic meanwhile are desperate for the three points and could end up with three goals without reply from the home side.

Aberdeen 0 Celtic 3.

*Celtic Park Time.

Celtic in the Thirties
Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr. Click on image to order

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About Author

Born just as Celtic were stopping the Ten, Lubo98 follows Celtic home and away and helps run his local Celtic Supporters Club. He goes to all the games and is a Law Graduate. Has a particular fondness for Tom Rogic among the current Celts and both Lubo and Henrik form his earliest Celtic memories.

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1 Comment

  1. Well well as we know dom dom and sectarian daddy mr corrupt dallas who gives celtic nothing on the pitch especially in the sevco fc end just have a watch especially at dom robertson who’ll be wanting his cheating team in blue to beat celtic so he’ll try his best but one day some pure ref is gonnae get it for the cheating he gets away with and not one person in the media mentions in fear of getting threatened buy the union bears wankers aswell.