Ange Postecoglou's Celtic side bounced back from their 3-2 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen with a 2-1 win over Aberdeen this afternoon.

Goals from Jota and Callum McGregor sealed the three points for the Hoops, keeping them within four points of the Premiership summit.

The scores were level at half-time after Liel Abada conceded a penalty to the away side, which Lewis Ferguson duly converted, before McGregor won the match in the second half.

Forget McGregor

McGregor picked up a goal and an assist and could take the bulk of the plaudits from today, but another player who is deserving of applause is centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers.

The £20k-per-week gem was an unsung hero at the back as he put in a superb display to keep Aberdeen at bay and ensure that the Hoops came away with all three points. It is easy to see the attackers scoring goals and getting assists and think that they were the stars of the show, but defenders are equally as important as their actions decide whether or not their teammates' contributions in the final third ultimately make a difference.

Defensively, the American was a rock. As per SofaScore, he won three of his four duels (75%) on the pitch, making two tackles, one interception and four clearances. He also ended the match without being dribbled past once and committed zero fouls. This shows that he was reliable at the back for Postecoglou and that Aberdeen were unable to get past him throughout the game, with Abada's concession of a penalty the only blot on the defensive copybook.

On the ball, Carter-Vickers was composed and assured. As per SofaScore, he had a whopping 91 touches of the ball and completed an impressive 95% of his attempted passes. This included six of his 10 longer pass attempts and he only gave possession away four times in the entire match, highlighting how crucial he was to Celtic controlling the game as he was not a liability with the ball at his feet. It could have caused issues for the Hoops had he been sloppy with his passing and handed Aberdeen chances to break.

Therefore, he provided a platform for the attackers to build upon and was pivotal to the final result. Whilst others also deserve praise for their individual displays, Carter-Vickers was an unsung hero and should be given immense credit for his performance.

AND in other news, Celtic closing in on key deal for 24y/o midfielder...