RYAN CHRISTIE joined teammates Scott Brown, Fraser Forster, Callum McGregor, Odsonne Edouard and Tom Rogic in getting a night off last night and instead of travelling to Romania for the dead rubber tie against Cluj was able to watch the match on BT Sport and rest up for the infinitely more important match, the visit of on-form Hibs to Celtic Park on Sunday in the Scottish Premiership.
The 2-0 defeat to Cluj was meaningless in the grand scheme of things – Celtic had already won the group and even the victory for Cluj turned out to be unnecessary as Lazio lost in Rennes to end a miserable campaign for both themselves and the French Cup winner. However there were some positives for Celtic, not least the performance of Leigh Griffiths who looked to be close to being back to being in a ‘first team ready’ condition.
Given Celtic’s forthcoming schedule between now and the 29 December, that could be significant.
Christie also had some time to look back to last Sunday’s League Cup win against the Rangers. “The last week has been good,” he told the official Celtic website.
“We enjoyed the achievement. It was a cup final and a derby as well, so we were delighted to win the game and get the first trophy in the bag for the season. Now, we’re really looking to kick on.
“Everyone talks about how early in the season the League Cup final comes around. When you go and win it, it’s a good confidence boost getting silverware so early in the season. You then want to go out and achieve more, because you’ve got the taste for it.
"I’m sure if you asked other attacking players, they’d tell you that they enjoy the pressure of scoring goals for their team. I know I enjoy that pressure of needing to score or create goals in the final third."
🎙️ Watch Ryan Christie's full #CELHIB media conference on YouTube⬇️
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) December 13, 2019
“For all the new boys who came in in the summer, that’s their first trophy with the club, and it gives them that extra incentive to go and did it again later in the campaign. It’s nice to have a trophy wrapped up and it lets you push on from here.”
The midfielder, who provided the assist for Christopher Jullien’s winner at Hampden, also looked ahead to the punishing schedule of games that could go a long way to building the platform to deliver the Premiership and that of course means 9IAR. The Hibs game on Sunday is the start of the a run of games that build up to the next Glasgow Derby at Celtic Park on 29 December.
“Even in the month of December, there are so many games before the break, which means plenty of things can change before then. It’s definitely not time to rest on our laurels.
“The final was one of our toughest games against (the) Rangers, and we had to show a different side to our game, one with a bit more resilience. Doing so gave an extra bit of confidence in our own game and abilities.
“These derby games are always going to be big. The next one will be nice to have at Celtic Park, for sure. It’s always nice to be at home in these big games, and have the majority of the crowd. When it comes along, we’ll look forward to it – just as much as we’re looking forward to Sunday against Hibs. There are so many games in December, though, that it’s very much about getting your head down and focusing on one game at a time.
“I can’t speak highly enough of how well we’ve been over the past few seasons. No one would have dreamt of the Treble Treble. It’s credit to the mindset of the boys and the staff at the club to keep pushing. We said that after the first treble. Then the second one. There’s been a relentlessness and a hunger to keep chasing success.
“The gaffer is big on telling us that when you look backwards to what you’ve done, that’s when you’re likely to get pushed off the top. With that in mind, we want to keep pushing and hopefully that can bring us more success.”
You can watch Ryan Christie’s Media Conference today via the Celtic FC You Tube channel…
