CASTLEBAR, Republic of Ireland (Interstat) — Celtic defeated Aberdeen 6-2 on Sunday in a Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park, opening the season with a dominant performance that exceeded pregame projections.

Defender Stephen Welsh, a 6-foot-2, 171-pound native of Coatbridge, Scotland, opened the scoring in the third minute. Attacker João Pedro Neves Filipe, a 5-foot-8, 132-pound player from Lisbon, Portugal, added a goal in the 75th minute. Both played the full 90 minutes.

Aberdeen received a yellow card in the 42nd minute to Matthew Kennedy. Another Aberdeen player was cautioned in the 58th minute. Celtic’s Greg John Taylor was shown a yellow card in the 81st minute.

The victory improved Celtic’s record in Scottish Premiership competition to 23 wins, 10 losses and 2 draws. Aberdeen fell to 2 wins, 2 losses and 3 draws in the league. Across all competitions this season, Celtic now stands at 29 wins, 14 losses and 6 draws. Aberdeen’s overall mark is 9 wins, 20 losses and 7 draws.

The teams had met once earlier this season, with Aberdeen winning 4-0 on Feb. 28. Celtic entered Sunday’s match having lost its previous league game, a 3-1 defeat at St. Johnstone on May 17. Aberdeen had drawn 2-2 at Motherwell LFC on that same day.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Celtic 2, Aberdeen 0. Interstat’s ELO system gave Celtic a 95.40 percent probability to win.