Aberdeen 1-2 Celtic
- Published
Celtic go top of the league
Virgil van Dijk nets winner on 90 minutes
Celtic skipper Scott Brown sent off
Aberdeen's Shaleum Logan red carded after game
Dons took lead with Adam Rooney strike
Ten-man Celtic came from behind with a late Virgil van Dijk goal at Pittodrie to move top of the Premiership for the first time this season.
The defender applied a deft touch from a 90th-minute corner after skipper Scott Brown had been sent off.
Adam Rooney had shot Aberdeen ahead, rifling in from close range after a fumble from Lukasz Zaluska.
Stefan Johansen then took advantage of some hesitant defending to level with a clever finish on the slide.
Defeat is tough on the Dons, who created the better chances in a fiery encounter and had Shaleum Logan shown a red card after full-time for comments aimed at a match official.
But the home side were guilty of dreadful marking from the corner that led to the winning goal.
Former Celtic midfielder Niall McGinn had four good glimpses of goal in the second half, slamming a shot against the base of the post and drilling an effort straight at Zaluska in stoppage-time.
Roared on by a crowd of 19,051, neither side looked content to settle for a point when Brown was shown his second yellow card for a tug on McGinn with eight minutes remaining.
And Celtic's positive attitude was rewarded when Van Dijk knocked the ball in at the back post from Johansen's delivery.
Pittodrie was the scene of Celtic's only league defeat last season and Rooney had the home fans dreaming of another success when he knocked in his 13th goal of this campaign.
Zaluska failed to gather a low shot from Andrew Considine and the striker scrambled the ball in from eight yards, with the keeper unable to recover.
However, Celtic were on level terms before the interval when Anthony Stokes cut in from left to slip a pass through for Johansen to chase into the penalty area.
Covering defender Mark Reynolds appeared to have the situation under control but was caught napping as the Norwegian midfielder slid in to lift the ball over the diving Scott Brown and angle the ball into the opposite corner.
Brown then needed to look sharp to push away a fierce strike from Johansen.
Aberdeen switched McGinn to the left flank in the second half and the tactic caused Celtic problems, with the Northern Ireland international a threat when he cut inside.
He sent a powerful strike narrowly over before hitting the woodwork, while a header from Ryan Jack was pushed away in flamboyant fashion by Zaluska.
Brown's first caution was for a barge on Peter Pawlett deep in the opposition half and the Scotland captain was dismissed by referee Alan Muir as he impeded another attacking thrust from McGinn.
The Dons midfielder fired the resultant free-kick over from 22 yards and had one last chance to get on the scoresheet following Van Dijk's goal, but Zaluska was right behind his shot.
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