Ryan’s no longer the nervous kid ahead of another cup final shot

CELTIC midfielder Ryan Christie was the nervous hamper boy with Inverness the first time he faced Aberdeen in a League Cup Final.

That was four years ago but now he’s the Parkhead’s club new poster Bhoy - and the jitters which left him a quivering wreck in the final have been replaced by excitement ahead of tomorrow’s showdown at the National Stadium.

The former Caley Thistle player is now a confident, assured, international midfielder and playing with a style and verve that has helped Celtic and Scotland recapture their best form.

It’s all a far cry from that first cup final experience as a callow youth at Inverness.

But as the 23-year-old steps out at Hampden in the Hoops of Celtic, he will think back to that occasion at Parkhead when Caley Thistle went

IAIN MACFARLANE toe to toe with the Dons only to lose out in a penalty shoot-out.

He smiled and said: “I was still very young and trying to break my way into the first team. John Hughes was in charge and had put me in for a few games before that.

“I remember he read the squad out. I travelled with the team and thought I was just there for the experience as a hamper boy. BY

“Then he said I was on the bench and I was sh ***** myself at the thought of that alone.

“Obviously it was a bit of a dead game which went into extra time. He sent me to warm up and then I just completely started panicking. I got on and then there was the disappointment of penalties. I didn’t take one – I think I was behind the keeper in the queue.

“Looking back it was probably my first real taste of a huge atmosphere and being part of it. I was thrown in at the deep end but enjoyed it.

“I’d only have been 18. Obviously a lot of boys were gutted after it whereas I was still in awe of the occasion. I didn’t really understand the full disappointment of it.

“But it made it so nice to then go on and win the Scottish Cup. It put things right. I won’t be as bad as 2014 this time around, I’m sure.

“You always have that edge for a cup final day. There are another 30