After being sent off against Livingston a couple of weeks ago, it hasn’t been the easiest of times for Ryan Christie.
He’s been struck with a two-game ban – one of which has now been served – whilst also having to close his Twitter account due to online abuse. It’s been a hellish couple of the weeks for the Celtic and Scotland star.
It all came after a high challenge on Livi’s Scott Robinson. It was a nasty one, and Christie saw red for it. A rare moment of madness from the Celtic hero that nobody expected.
But Christie seems in a good place these days regardless. Speaking in The National ahead of Thursday night, the Celtic hero touched on his suspension.
“Lazio is huge and it will be great to get back to Parkhead after the Cluj game at home. We were all buzzing with that win and this will hopefully be another big European night.
“It [was] so frustrating to still be serving the suspension. That’s the thing with a red card, it sticks with you for a few weeks. But I’ve kept training hard and been doing some extra running.
“It’s a competitive group and we have already seen that anyone can beat anyone. We have four points from two games but we want to kick on from here and get another good result.”
Christie sounds like he’s in a good place
It’s positive to hear Christie speaking about Celtic for the first time after his sending off at Livingston. It was something that undoubtedly played heavily on his mind over the course of a rough period off.
Fortunately for him he had Scotland duty to sink his teeth into. An assist against San Marino and a decent enough cameo in Russia will have done wonders for his confidence. It will have helped wipe that Livi red card from the forefront of his mind.
However, Thursday’s clash with Lazio offers him a unique opportunity. Considering he’s suspended against Aberdeen this Sunday, Christie doesn’t have the luxury of a big game this weekend to bounce back in.
He’s likely to start against Lazio with Tom Rogic taking his place at Pittodrie. If that’s the case, nobody will be talking about his red card if he stars against the Serie A side.
It would do great things for his confidence and he would be able to bounce back in impressive style. Considering how many games he’s going to be playing between now and the winter break, we need him firing.
But he seems in a good place at the moment. His red card doesn’t seem to have kept him down. Now, it’s all about how he bounces back.
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