There's nothing quite like a top of the table clash: Unabashed ambition laid out, silverware on the line, the certainty that ultimately, sooner or later, one will win and the other will lose.

These are the fixtures that define entire seasons but something is lacking from such occasions in Scotland. What are we missing?

Aberdeen and Celtic will meet at Pittodrie on Saturday in what will technically be a top of the table clash.

The Dons are currently in second place, with Brendan Rodgers' Hoops the Scottish Premiership leaders.

It's been this way for a while now but the contest between the two clubs seems somewhat hollow.

By now there should be at least a hint of inherent rivalry between Aberdeen and Celtic.

The two clubs have been each other's closest challengers over the past two seasons, with the Dons taking on the role of title contenders in the recent absence of Rangers.

Derek McInnes has set Celtic in his sights and the gap, until this season, had been closing.

The more the media and fans attempt to build up the fixture as the defining event of the Scottish football season, the more the true nature of this game is highlighted.

Truly great rivalries are organic in their cultivation. They require no build up, their significance is conveyed in other ways.

Clashes between Aberdeen and Celtic are missing everything that makes a rivalry a rivalry, with this weekend's fixture likely to be no different.

Where is the energy? Where is the to and fro between the clubs' fanbases? Is it really a must-watch game in the same way Old Firm derbies are or even clashes between Aberdeen and Rangers or Celtic and Hearts are?

Of course, some will make the point that these aforementioned rivalries have their roots in non-footballing factors.

Nonetheless, when looked at from a purely sporting perspective, Aberdeen v Celtic still lags some way behind Scottish football's other offerings.

There might be the odd flashpoint, a few tasty tackles, a flailing elbow here and there, but the fire and feistiness that are usually the hallmarks of a rivalry just aren't there.

There was a feeling in the final throes of last season, and momentarily the season before when the Ronny Roar was born at Pittodrie after a particularly close-fought encounter, that something had been sparked between Aberdeen and Celtic.

The Dons' momentous win over Celtic at Pittodrie in February raised genuine hope in the north east that a first title triumph in 31 years could be achievable, cutting the gap between the two clubs at the top of the Scottish Premiership table to just three points.

Celtic ultimately won the title by 15 points, putting paid to the notion that Aberdeen might be ready to win their first league championship since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson.

The true litmus test of any rivalry between the two clubs would be if they ever found themselves on an equal footing but as things are - and have been for a long, long time - the gauge is rather skewed.

McInnes' remarks this week illustrated the nature of the competition that exists between Aberdeen and Celtic.

He claimed he felt "a bit of pride" over how his Dons side have challenged at the top of the Scottish Premiership over the past two seasons or so.

While McInnes pointed out he would never "just roll over it and accept" Celtic's supremacy, there was a satisfaction at having finished the best of the rest in successive years.

Therein lies the crux of the fundamental flaw in the contest between the two clubs.

Finishing behind Celtic is not the end of world for Aberdeen. In fact, finishing behind Celtic has been heralded as some sort of achievement over the past two seasons.

That is not the mark of a real rivalry, no matter how much narrative is slapped on.

The sense of faux rivalry has has been exacerbated this season by Celtic's start to the league campaign.

The gap at the top of the table was already wide enough but Rodgers' appointment has made the Hoops untouchable as far as Sottish football is concerned.

They already hold a seven-point advantage, with a game in-hand over second place Aberdeen.

The SPFL might as well start tying the green and white ribbons on the trophy now.

So as much as the tribal Ronny Roar has its roots at Pittodrie, and as often as the contest between Aberdeen and Celtic has been talked up, with McInnes asked how close his team is to mounting a genuine title challenge on a near weekly basis, there remains something amiss.

It's an intangible quality but whatever it is, a real rivalry needs it.