Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes says his side’s poor record against Celtic is because the Hoops always raise their game when they take on the Dons.
The Dons will be looking to end a wretched run of nine successive defeats by the Hoops when Brendan Rodgers’ men visit Pittodrie tomorrow in the Scottish Premiership’s game of the weekend.
McInnes believes Aberdeen’s impressive domestic form – they have finished second for three seasons on the trot – has made it tougher for them to take points off last season’s treble winners.
He said: “It has always been a big game, usually first against second.
“And I think Celtic have always treated it that way, their bigger and better players bring that kind of performance.
“Against us they always have their bigger players on the pitch, but we should relish that challenge.
“We need to bring a better level of performance individually and that should bring about a better team performance.
“It is nine games and nine defeats to Celtic, which doesn’t sit well.
“What we have tried to do in the past is get a system which allows us to perform our best but it’s about getting the balance between attacking and defending.
“We have to have a way of playing that means we can defend the way we have to but to also have an attacking threat to win the game.”
Both teams will be looking to bounce back with the Dons suffering a 2-0 defeat at Hibernian on their last outing, while the Hoops returned to Scotland yesterday following their Europa League exit at the hands of Zenit St Petersburg in a disappointing 3-0 loss.
McInnes added: “The players play with motivation every week, they were disappointed with the performance last week.
“In was in contrast to what we have been getting before that, I had been very pleased with our play since the winter break.
“We want to get back to winning ways, although facing Celtic is always the toughest game you have.
“But we will try and I don’t think the European game will have much of an impact.
“Celtic are the one team who are used to coping with that sort of schedule, they have the squad size to deal with it.
“Whether they came bouncing in here on the back of a good result, or here on the back of a poor one, we expect a tough match.
“I don’t think we need to look too much at the opposition, my biggest concern is our own performance and producing one strong enough to cause them problems.”