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Celtic bounced back from their Euro misery to restore their nine-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership as they made it 10 wins on the spin against Aberdeen.

Moussa Dembele and Kieran Tierney scored in either half with both teams ending the match with 10 men after Mikael Lustig was sent off for the visitors and substitute Sam Cosgrove for the Dons on his debut.

Dembele headed home in the first half to take him into double figures for the season with his first goal in six games.

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Lustig was sent off with 14 minutes left for a second foul on Gary Mackay-Steven but Tierney thundered home before Cosgrove was dismissed just eight minutes after his introduction for a lunge on Scott Brown.

It was a cagey start as the Dons sat in, making the first goal more important, and the Hoops almost grabbed it when Olivier Ntcham’s long range shot cracked Woodman’s left-hand post.

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But the deadlock was soon broken eight minutes before half-time thanks to a brilliant cross from James Forrest and Dembele got in front of Kari Arnason to head home the opener.

The Dons had a chance to level just after the hour when Kristoffer Ajer was floored after clashing with team-mate Jozo Simunovic.

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Referee Bobby Madden didn’t stop the game despite it being a head knock and Gary Mackay-Steven raced away but he couldn’t find Stevie May with his cross with the striker unmarked in the box.

Aberden kept pressing and Dorus de Vries saved from Kenny McLean before Niall McGinn and Anthony O’Connor were both denied by last-gasp defending.

Lustig was then given his marching orders for a second foul on GMS with Tierney finishing off a quick counter to kill the game before Cosgrove was shown a red.

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3 talking points

Title race, what title race?

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Rangers asked the question of Celtic with a win on Saturday to move to within just six points of their Old Firm rivals.

That put the pressure on the champions ahead of what was seen as a tricky trip to the north east, despite their brilliant record against the Dons, coming just 72 hours after they lost 3-0 to Zenit St Petersburg in Russia to end their Europa League hopes.

Celtic produced arguably their best display of the season when they won 3-0 at Pittodrie earlier in the season and while they didn’t reach that level they still got the job done.

They are now nine points clear with 10 games left and few would bet against Brendan Rodgers making it seven-in-a-row.

Big game blues

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Aberdeen’s poor run in big games continues with the Dons having now taken just eight points from a possible 33 against the top five in the Scottish Premiership this season.

But their record against Celtic is woeful having now lost 10 in a row and an aggregate of score of 22-3 for Derek McInnes in nine games against Brendan Rodgers.

It’s a shocking statistic when you consider every other top flight side has taken at least a point over the same number of meetings with the champions.

Speaking before the game, McInnes emphasised the need for his Aberdeen team to dig out a result with questions continually asked of their big-game mentality.

He said: “If we want to be up among the best teams, we’ve got to perform against the best teams. We’ve not done that often enough - certainly against the Old Firm this season.”

But they failed yet again. The Dons were solid enough at the start and were clearly determined to give nothing away. But the game plan had to change when they fell behind.

Aberdeen picked it up in the second half and had some decent chances but ultimately it wasn’t enough for the Reds who now face a fight for second place.

Lustig's woes continue

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Mikael Lustig is the new whipping boy for the Celtic fans and his sending off here didn’t do the Swede any favours.

Last season he was full of confidence with his audacious rabona assist for Moussa Dembele in a win over St Johnstone and his screamer in the Old Firm win at Ibrox.

But Lustig hasn’t been the same player this season and was identified as one of the weak links in the defeat to Zenit in Russia.

And the 31-year-old didn’t look comfortable at times here before his 76th minute dismissal for a second foul on Gary Mackay-Steven.