Celtic must avoid fate worse than an Aberdeen snowball - could a fallen star help them?

On December 22, 2001, Celtic were defeated 2-0 by Aberdeen in the north-east on a cold Saturday evening, with a Robbie Winters penalty and a late Darren Mackie goal doing the damage. The reception for Celtic was also frosty off the pitch too, with visiting players pelted with snowballs by the jubilant home fans.

It was the only league defeat Celtic suffered that season en route to the Premier Division crown. But at least back then, they won the title.

The situation is graver for O’Neill as he heads back to Pittodrie 21 years on from his last visit, when a Chris Sutton strike gave his team a 1-0 victory. The same scoreline would be gratefully received. Celtic are eight points behind Premiership leaders Hearts as we enter the business end of the a gripping title race. This is Celtic’s game in hand over both the Jam Tarts and Rangers, who are in second place, two points better off than their Old Firm rivals.

Upon conclusion of events in the Granite City on Wednesday night, Hearts, Rangers and Celtic will have nine matches remaining. Motherwell, who are in fourth place, could move to within seven points of the top spot if they win their own game in hand away at Dundee. The defending champions have their sights set on those above but must be mindful of the Steelmen too.

Celtic travel north with a little bit of momentum. Their comeback from 2-0 down against Rangers at Ibrox last weekend to force a 2-2 draw showed the still have the stomach for a title fight. The carrot of leapfrogging their Glasgow rivals and positioning themselves as the closest challengers to Hearts is an incentive in itself on Wednesday. “"It would be massive,” defender Kieran Tierney remarked of the notion. “If we want to go and win the league, that's what we've got to do.”

In Aberdeen, they face an opponent in strife. Managerless since the start of January, they have won only one of their past 12 Premiership matches and need a victory soon to quell any nerves of being sucked into a battle to avoid the relegation play-off.

The original date for this game was postponed last month due to the Pittodrie pitch being waterlogged. And at the end of a hectic schedule, O’Neill knows the perils of title hopes being washed away - even if under caretaker boss Peter Leven, Aberdeen are toiling.

Celtic braced for a test

“The game itself presents the challenge,” said O’Neill. “I think that Aberdeen will get themselves up for the game, quite rightly so. They've got points to prove themselves. It would be easy, regardless of what position the two clubs find themselves in, it would be a difficult match.

“I've never had an easy game at Pittodrie in all my time managing. I expect exactly the same, and the players are expecting that as well. Hopefully, since the last time, since the game was off, perhaps the pitch might have improved a little bit. That I don't know.”

O’Neill is set to be without experienced goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel once more as the Dane is still recovering from sickness. “Kasper is still not feeling great so I will leave him to recover properly,” said O’Neill, who will again be without suspended defender Auston Trusty.

Viljami Sinisalo will deputise for Schmeichel and retains the faith of O’Neill. “He has done really well in the two games that he’s come in,” said the manager. “He came in for the European game against Stuttgart, made a couple of really good saves and did very well. And so he will start tomorrow night.

“I have been pleased with him. I thought he did fine against Rangers, really fine. And the goals that he conceded certainly weren’t his fault. So I’ve been very pleased with him. And it’s an opportunity, it’s not the way that you’d want it to do. But it’s an opportunity to see him because I think he wants to be the number one goalkeeper here in the foreseeable future.”

O’Neill may know his goalkeeper for Aberdeen but he has more to think about in midfield. Reo Hatate has had an underwhelming campaign by previous standards, but he changed the course of the match when introduced at half-time against Rangers and netted the stoppage-time equaliser. He replaced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and could be preferred to the England internationalist, who is still coming to terms with the pace of the Scottish game.

“Reo has to get the best out of himself, you know,” said O’Neill. “That's the most important thing. If you had been asking that question to any of my managers about me as a player, they would have stared right through you and said it's up to him as the player.

“This is it, Reo's been a really fine footballer here, and it's been a tough old season for him, it's been a tough old season for the football club. If he could maintain that form, then he can be an asset to us.

“It would be easy for me to sit here and say that would be fantastic, that would really be up to the player as much as anything. In terms of encouragement here, which is something that we've been giving, absolutely. It's all the encouragement in the world from us.”

Now Celtic need to give their fans encouragement in this title race. Only a win will do. Anything less and the pain will feel far worse than a snowball to the face.