SCOTT BROWN could have been seriously injured following Aberdeen debutant Sam Cosgrove’s wayward challenge, according to Kieran Tierney.
The former Carlisle striker was shown a straight red card just eight minutes after coming on as a substitute in Celtic’s welcome and deserved 2-0 win at Pittodrie yesterday.
Tierney thumped in the killer second goal following Moussa Dembele’s first-half opener with the champions surging nine points clear at the top as they zero in on their seventh successive Premiership title.
The international left-back’s strike sunk the Dons who were hoping to capitalise on their numerical superiority following Mikael Lustig’s 75th-minute ordering-off following two yellow cards.
Referee Bobby Madden evened up the figures when he banished the reckless Cosgrove and Tierney angrily confronted the 21-year-old forward.
Asked about the tackle on the team’s skipper, he said: “Broony’s foot wasn’t planted, but if it was then you never know. It was in front of me and it was a high challenge.
“You would like to think that there wasn’t any malice. Broony got up and celebrated and that is just the sort of character he is.
“He is brilliant and a true, true leader for us to learn off and work under. It is a privilege and an honour for me to work with him.
“Maybe Aberdeen like to be aggressive and to get in our face. There is maybe the chance of bad tackles, but it is not just against a certain team.
“It could happen in any game, but you would like to think there was no intent to hurt anybody. Mikael’s was on the other side so I can’t comment on that.”
However, Tierney admitted it was a massive victory – Celtic’s 10th win against the Dons in succession – coming just 72 hours after the disappointment of the Europa League defeat to Zenit St Petersburg and a day after Sevco Rangers closed the gap at the top to just six points.
He added: “For us, it is all about concentrating on every game. If it sends out a message then it does, but we don’t concentrate on that.
“We concentrate on ourselves. That was the result and performance we wanted. Aberdeen always make a good game of it, but to come up here and get a result on that pitch was brilliant.
“We were coming off a bad result and only had a couple of days to recover and it is a hard place to go, but we got the win and the clean sheet and we are all happy.
“For my goal, it was a great counter and Moussa was on the ball. He had an option to his right and I gave him one to the left.
“He played a great through ball to me and I have hit it that hard it has gone in. I managed to celebrate in front of the Celtic fans which meant a lot to me.”
Brendan Rodgers’ men will face another Premiership hurdle when Neil McCann brings his Dundee team to Parkhead on Wednesday and then the Hoops can look forward to a home Scottish Cup quarter-final against Morton on Saturday.
And then all eyes will be on Ibrox Parkhead and then the Old Firm showdown at Ibrox.on Sunday, March 11.
