CHRISTIE AIMS TO AVOID ANOTHER PAINFUL DAY AT HAMPDEN
Celtic star is hopeful lightning doesn’t strike twice in last four
ON a personal level, Ryan Christie is obviously aiming for a very different outcome at Hampden after setting up another Scottish Cup semi-final meeting between Celtic and aberdeen.
Last season’s match-up at the national stadium saw Christie suffer a serious facial injury following an aerial challenge from Dominic Ball. The specialist he attended later told him that the damage was akin to being attacked with a baseball bat. It was a gruesome impact that brought a premature end to his season.
Now, however, the 25-year-old is hoping he can have an active part to play until the very end as Celtic aim to edge ever closer to a quadruple Treble in the final weeks of the campaign.
Certainly, his influence in Perth yesterday was essential. Faced by dogged St Johnstone resistance, Christie’s free-kick went all the way into the net with nine minutes to play of a tense quarter-final. French centre-back Christopher Jullien was adamant he hadn’t got a touch as he sought to close in at the near post.
That moment was enough to put Neil Lennon’s men back into the last four, where they will meet Christie’s former loan club on the weekend of april 11/12.
‘It obviously wasn’t a nice memory for me against aberdeen last season, but let’s hope that lightning doesn’t strike twice,’ said Christie, switching from a grin to a grimace. ‘That would be nice.
‘It was always going to be a tough game in the semi-final no matter which team we got. Especially going to Hampden, I am sure aberdeen will be up for it.
‘But for now I think we just need to park the Scottish Cup. We have a big league game this week and we need to focus on that and keep the domestic run going. When the semi-final does come round, we will be buzzing for it.
‘When I was there, I didn’t get the chance to play against Celtic for aberdeen. We know how good a team aberdeen are.
‘Up to this point, we have had success against them in the cup but that is nothing you can rely on. You go into every game and forget about what has happened in the past.
‘We know we need to be spot on when that game comes around if we want to make it to a final.’
Christie would argue that Celtic’s heroics are founded in humility. Making it 34 successive wins in domestic cup competition has only been possible because each and every assignment is treated the same way as the first in this incredible run.
Remarkably, next month will witness Celtic’s 15th Hampden appearance since last suffering defeat there to Rangers back in the spring of 2016.
Whatever else might block their path over the run-in, Christie is adamant complacency will not figure as this squad of winners continue to rack up the numbers.
‘It’s nice to look at these records after the win but, for us, going into this game we just knew we had to get the result by hook or by crook, and we managed to do that,’ he said.
‘Winning games and probably humility gives us that mentality. Teams are absolutely desperate to knock us out of the Scottish Cup and teams want to take our scalp in the league, so we need to enter the game and do as well as we possibly can.
‘It’s often talked about in the media how well we’ve done in the cup up until now but we don’t take that into consideration at all going into these games.
‘Is it by treating every game like it’s the first one? Yeah, exactly that.
‘It’s just another must-win game for us and, with that kind of mindset and attitude, it’s hopefully enough to get us win after win.’
This latest one was sealed thanks to Christie’s 19th club goal of the season. Getting over the line in Perth means Celtic have not actually lost an away cup tie — excluding the neutral venue that is Hampden — since failing to get past St Mirren way back in March 2009.
‘am I claiming the goal? Yeah,’ smiled Christie, who delivered deep from the right flank after Jamie McCart was booked for wiping out James Forrest.
‘Big Jullien has told me that he didn’t get a touch on it, so I was happy to see it going in.
‘The more important thing was just to get over the line in what was a difficult game. I didn’t know if he had got a touch.
‘In a situation like that, I am only trying to put the ball into an area where, if someone doesn’t manage to get a touch on it, then it might sneak in at the back post. It seemed to do just that.
‘It doesn’t matter who gets the goal, it was just important that we managed to see it out on a frustrating afternoon. We have booked ourselves another visit to Hampden, so we are happy.
‘We just had to be relentless and keep going. When we finally broke the deadlock, we felt that relief and we had to shut up shop at the other end.
‘The most important thing with cup football is getting the win and going into the next round.’
The result also ensured Celtic responded in the right manner to the bitter disappointment of their Europa League exit against FC Copenhagen last midweek.
Christie had to sit out that 3-1 second-leg defeat after being booked for a penalty-conceding handball during the initial game in Denmark.
‘It was frustrating for me watching from the sidelines on Thursday,’ he admitted. ‘I felt the disappointment and I was gutted for the boys because I know how big our aspirations were to go far in Europe this season.
‘We are still happy with the run we had, with an amazing group stage. It was frustrating to go out but we knew the perfect response was to get a win and book ourselves into a semi-final and we’re glad to do that.
‘The more the game was going on and we missed a few chances, you start to get that feeling the ball just wasn’t going to go into the net. So it was relief more than anything and it was the perfect way to bounce back from the disappointment of Thursday night.’
We know that we’ll need to be spot on if we’re to make another final