BENJAMIN BUTTON MAN

Nygren pulls the trigger at Pittodrie to open his Celtic account before a Hatate stunner sends Hoops down the road with three points

- BY MICHAEL GANNON

BENJAMIN NYGREN got off the mark for Celtic as the champions overcame their Scottish Cup conquerors Aberdeen.

The summer signing from Nordsjaelland notched a goal and an assist in a 2-0 victory at Pittodrie as Celtic moved four points ahead of Rangers after their second Premiership game.

Much of the narrative around Celtic is centred on their struggles to find attacking additions to their squad but the two new signings in the team, Kieran Tierney and Nygren, combined for the Swede to send the visitors into a halftime lead.

Nygren added a simple assist as Reo Hatate produced a wonderful finish 20 minutes into the second half.

Aberdeen fans raised a giant banner of the Scottish Cup replete with red and white ribbons before the game as they welcomed their team out at Pittodrie for the first time since their Hampden triumph over Celtic.

But they were silenced after Hatate's goal before finishing the game as the only team in the Premiership still to collect a point.

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin brought Nicky Devlin and Alfie Dorrington into his back four following their opening defeat by Hearts, over with his right after Hatate's effort was parried.

while James Forrest was in for Yang Hyun-Jun in the only change to the Celtic team that started their opening 1-0 win over St Mirren.

The home side threatened on several occasions early on when they broke quickly after turning the ball over. On-loan Sunderland attacker Adil Aouchiche forced a diving save from Kasper Schmeichel from their best moment.