The Celtic numbers: Matt O'Riley shines again in away win

Following a VAR check, Liel Abada put Celtic ahead with a simple finish which had originally been ruled out for offside. However, the home side would equalise through Bojan Miovski, who latched onto the end of an assist from fellow striker Duk, with the forward profiting from a rare mistake from Cameron Carter-Vickers. They were not level for long, though - in part thanks to Nicky Devlin's misjudged header -  which presented Kyogo Furuhashi with a chance to convert. He did, and Celtic led 2-1 at the break.

Despite Aberdeen's best efforts, Celtic would manage to hold onto their lead, and consolidated it further through the standout player Matt O'Riley late on in the game, after great work down the wing by Yang Hyun-jun to find the Dane. This ended the game as a contest, with the visitors coming out on top to make it a perfect start to the league season.

Brendan Rodgers picked an unchanged line-up from the team that started on Flag Day against Ross County. Again, David Turnbull was preferred over Reo Hatate, whilst it was the first game without the services of Carl Starfelt, who completed his move to Celta Vigo earlier on in the week. Because of this, Maik Nawrocki made it two starts from two in the heart of the Celtic defence alongside Carter-Vickers.

Here, The Celtic Way rounds up the best StatsBomb data from the game to give you a match report like no other...

xG trendline

Much like the Ross County game, it would be Celtic's opponents who would threaten first in proceedings through Miovski's free-kick which he dragged wide (0.09 xG). Following this chance, it would be the visitors who would threaten next in the early parts of the game, with Kyogo's audacious chip just missing the target from outside the box (0.04 xG). They would then go on to score the opener a couple of minutes later.

After a free-kick from O'Riley just outside of the Aberdeen box, Maeda got on the end of the delivery, which looked like it could potentially have been creeping in (0.12 xG). Abada, however, was not taking any chances with this opportunity and decided to put the ball into the back of the net from close proximity, though his celebrations were cut short by the officials due to an offside call on the winger. After a VAR review, referee Kevin Clancy was instructed to give the goal by the officials, and Celtic found themselves ahead. The chance had an xG of 0.78, which rose to 0.99 in PSxG due to how close Abada was to the goal and the contact he had got on the ball with his foot.

Following a few half-chances from both sides, it would be Aberdeen who were next to get on the scoresheet in proceedings. Ryan Duncan in midfield played a chipped pass into the direction of forward Duk, who managed to get past Carter-Vickers in the Celtic defence. The Cape Verde striker had managed to profit off of a misjudged defensive action of the Celtic centre-back and got the byline before delivering a ball to Miovski, who was able to tap the ball past Joe Hart in goals. Much like Abada's finish, Miovski's xG was high at 0.87, but would then rise to 0.99 on PSxG thanks to the shot he took and the way in which he connected with the ball. Following an earlier chance through Graeme Shinnie, it was the least that Aberdeen deserved from the game at that point.

READ MORE: McGregor on 'outstanding' Celtic team-mate who thrived in Aberdeen win

All the hard work from the home side to get into this position would be undone by a mistake, however, as Devlin presented Kyogo with a gift of a goal just a few minutes later. The Aberdeen defender got his bearings all wrong when heading the ball back to his goalkeeper Kelle Roos, instead directing his contact of the ball to the Japanese striker, who struck the ball past the goalkeeper to put the visitors back in front. Kyogo's shot had an xG of 0.16, which then decreased to 0.12, perhaps due to the hand that Roos got on the shot. From a defensive perspective, this was a horrible goal to lose for Aberdeen, especially after getting themselves back into the game.

More attacks would follow from both sides, but at half-time, the score would be 2-1 to Celtic. Despite being behind, the accumulated xG would favour Aberdeen at a score of 1.37-1.30, in what was an exciting first 45 minutes of action. 

Into the second half, it would be more of a routine game for the Scottish champions in regard to chance creation, who had six when compared to the home side's three. Still, Aberdeen came close with a speculative effort from Leighton Clarkson, whose shot dragged just wide of the far post (0.05 xG). Prior to this, Celtic had come close on two occasions from Kyogo and Maeda (0.24 and 0.31 in xG, respectively), but their patience and hard work would be rewarded a little over five minutes from full-time.

Substitute Yang received the ball from Greg Taylor and decided to take on his marker in Dante Polvara. After great play on the wing, the South Korean managed to get past him before putting in a great ball to O'Riley in the box, who side-footed the opportunity past Roos in the Aberdeen goal. A menace to Aberdeen for the whole of the game, O'Riley pulled the strings in what was another outstanding performance. The xG for this goal was 0.41, before rising to 0.42 in PSxG, in what was a well-worked team goal from Celtic's perspective and from their star midfielder.

Our data provider calculated that the game was scored 2.40-1.53 in favour of Celtic with regard to cumulative xG, which does indicate that the visitors did not have it all their own way despite the relatively comfortable scoreline at the end of the game. The race chart for this match calculated that the home side only had a 17 per cent chance of winning this game, with a higher chance of them drawing with the chances created at 25 per cent. Indeed, the most likely outcome was a Celtic win, which was at 58 per cent for the game at Pittodrie.

Celtic had 16 shots in this match, with eight being on target which yielded three goals. As the shot map details, Celtic had a mixture of chances from both inside and out of the box, though they tended to work the ball into the area, which is where all three of their goals transpired from.

Celtic have averaged a total of 16.50 shots per game so far this season, with their total being 18.32 across the whole of last season under previous manager Ange Postecoglou. With 16 shots in this game, it shows that they are dangerous both home and away with regard to shot and chance creation thus far this season, with plenty of room for improvement.

The home side had 12 shots, but only two of them were on target, one being the goal from Miovski. From the shot map, it is also clear that Aberdeen like to work the ball into the box, which is where their best chances came from in the game. They only had three shots in total from outside of the box.

This season so far Aberdeen have averaged 11 shots per game, indicating that they had an above-average day in terms of chance creation. Last season, they averaged 11.26 shots, showing the improvements in their game already under Robson despite picking up only one point from six available.

Maeda and Kyogo were Celtic's most potent attackers with regard to shots, as both had four on xG accumulations of 0.57 and 0.51, respectively. Abada scored the highest total in the team with 0.79 in xG for his three shots, whilst O'Riley's 0.41 off of two shots was also impressive.

For the Dons, Duncan and Miovski both had three shots, with the latter outscoring his teammate on both goals and xG totals, with 0.99 to the midfielder's 0.13. Fellow striker Polvara had two shots at an accumulation of 0.15 in xG, as did Shinnie with 0.15 xG combined. 

Possession, passing and positions

Much like most games - especially under possession-heavy manager Rodgers, Celtic had the vast majority of possession in the match. Despite being away from home, Celtic had 66 per cent possession in the game, completing 445 of their 574 passes at a success rate of 78 per cent. For the home side, they only had 34 per cent of the ball despite hosting Sunday's proceedings. Their passing was poorer, too, completing 160 of their 294 passes, a success rate of only 54 per cent in the game.

The passing network gives a rough idea of where the majority of the game was played and who was the most involved. Remember that the warmer the colour, the more influential the player was in the game, and the thicker the passing lines, the more passes between the players.

StatsBomb measures pass contributions in on-ball value (often referred to as OBV, a term breakdown of which can be read here).

For Celtic, their standout in terms of OBV totals was surprisingly Anthony Ralston, with his OBV score being 0.69 off of 54 passes. Despite having a poor game, Taylor performed well too, with the other full-back scoring 0.37 OBV in just 37 passes. It was a poorer game for Kyogo using this metric, as his 10 passes scored -0.10, with O'Riley's 28 passes also in the negative totals at -0.08.

Aberdeen's highest OBV earner was of Duk, who scored 0.44 off of just five passes. This was a lot higher than their player in second place, as Slobodan Rubezic's 14 passes scored 0.10 in OBV. It was a poor OBV afternoon for Miovski, who had -0.07 for nine passes, whilst Shayden Morris had -0.06 for the same amount.

Judging by the passing networks, it seems that Celtic had the most joy down both full-back sides, judging by the warm colours that Ralston and Taylor are showing, respectively. Impressive cameos from players such as Hatate and Yang also show up well in this regard.

For Aberdeen, Duk is the only player that manages to gain the warm red colour in terms of his OBV, showing his effectiveness in this metric, which was the highest for both sides. Polvara, Clarkson and Rubezic also impress when looking at the networks for the home side, though the rest pale in comparison with their collectively low figures in OBV values.

Despite coming on as a substitute midway through the second half, Yang had the joint-highest key passes with two at an xG of 0.46, alongside Maeda, O'Riley and Turnbull for the visitor. An impressive showing from the winger looking to make a name for himself following his summer move from Gangwon FC. Ralston also got a key pass in the game, making the top five in terms of this metric.

For Aberdeen, Miovski had the most key passes for his side, though his two only garnered a score of 0.09 in xG combined. Duk was the most efficient, as his one key pass led to Miovski's goal, scoring 0.87 in xG. Clarkson, Roos and Duncan all had one key pass, respectively.

Pressing and defending

Celtic initialised 111 pressures onto their opponents, regaining the ball just 17 times in the match. The hosts, on the other hand, regained the ball 33 times following 201 pressures at Pittodrie. 

In terms of individuals, O'Riley (as is usually the case) led the way in terms of pressures for Celtic, with 19. Maeda, then Turnbull and Taylor were next with 13 and 12 respectively in pressure totals, whilst Abada had 10. O'Riley led the way for counterpressures too, with six for his side, whilst Taylor and Kyogo had five each. Turnbull contributed four.

For Aberdeen, Shinnie led the game for pressures with 35, the next highest being Morris with 28 in total. Miovski was one behind with 27, and Clarkson contributed 24. Morris led his team for counterpressures with five for the Dons, whilst Miovski and Devlin had four respectively. Polvara and Jack MacKenzie had three in what was a great effort on the defensive end for Aberdeen.

READ MORE: Celtic instant analysis: Kyogo and O'Riley inspire win at Pittodrie

Defensively, it was another solid day for Nawrocki, who has started well for his new side. Two tackles and four interceptions, as well as nine clearances allowed for an impressive performance from the Polish defender. Taylor also got involved with regard to defending despite being noticeably off in terms of performance, contributing seven total tackles and interceptions, which was a game-high.

In terms of Aberdeen's defensive display, Devlin was solid despite his mistake for Kyogo's goal, with six total tackles and interceptions. MacKenzie had probably the most eye-opening defensive stat of the game, however, with 13 clearances in what was a busy day for the central defender.