Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin hailed his team’s spirit after they came from two goals down at Celtic Park to continue their unbeaten start.
The Dons’ 13-game winning streak under Thelin came to an end after goals in quick succession from Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi gave Celtic a commanding half-time lead.
But the 2-2 draw would have felt like a victory to the travelling Dons fans after goals from Ester Sokler and Graeme Shinnie brought their team level by the hour mark.
Aberdeen substitute Duk had a goal disallowed for handball before surviving a VAR check for the same offence right at the end of 13 minutes of stoppage-time after clearing Alistair Johnston’s shot off the line.
Thelin said: “I like the team spirit the players have, how they help each other. It’s not easy to come here and have 2-0 against you and go out in the second half when Celtic have such quality.
“But the players showed spirit and scored two goals, and we also tried to find another one in transitions and set-plays.
“Then of course sometimes you need to have some luck. In the last three, four, five minutes there were some crazy moments on the pitch.
But the players sacrificed themselves, they gave everything they had. They were tired but they keep believing, they’re helping each other. That’s also something you need sometimes, a little bit of luck, but also the extra effort to get the point in these difficult away games.
“I’m proud of the players and the fans who supported us all the way.”
Thelin wanted more pace in his side for the second half to hit Celtic on the break and brought on Sokler and Duk, but also got buy-in from the rest of his players, who added an extra edge to their pressing.
On his half-time team talk, he added: “There wasn’t too much emotion, we needed to calm down a little bit and focus on our identity, what we want to achieve here.
“It’s still early in the season so we have still a lot of things to improve and sometimes when you get under real pressure then we have to refocus and try to find a way to start over the game in our mind.
“It was more a good talk with the players and then we go out with a strong feeling.”
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers felt his side contributed to their second-half downfall. His side were caught out by Jamie McGrath’s through ball for Sokler’s goal before Shinnie hit a deflected effort after Daizen Maeda gifted possession to the Dons deep in his half.
“We got punished for being careless, I felt, in that 10-minute period,” Rodgers said.
“We had good control in the first half, should have been more in front, and then probably around about that 50th minute to the 60th minute, a little bit passive without the ball, lacked aggression.
“But then after that, we go again, and whatever it was, 32 shots or something at goal, and a mixture of really good defending and goalkeeping, we didn’t get the winner.”
Rodgers, who is unsure whether Cameron Carter-Vickers will return from a toe injury for Wednesday’s Champions League clash against Atalanta, added: “I knew it wasn’t going to be perfect, coming on the back of all the guys travelling around the world and coming back in together, but I would expect us to see that game through.
“They obviously make the changes, and obviously the guy coming on runs in behind, and that’s his strength, to get the goal, and you have to give them a big credit for that, and Jimmy and his team, they’re well coached, well organised, and the changes worked for him.
“But when I look at it from our perspective, he doesn’t get the through ball at all if our press is right. It just doesn’t come.
“And that’s what I’m talking about, being a bit passive and a bit careless on it, because the thing we talked about before the game was this is a game where we want to dominate the ball, but we’ll only do that by being really super aggressive without it.
“And in those moments when you’re not, good teams will punish you, and that’s what happened to us.”
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