Christie welcomes Pittodrie challenge

Loan midfielder ready to raise his game to take on creative role

Aberdeen midfielder Ryan Christie is ready for the challenge of filling the void left by the departure of Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn.

The Celtic midfielder has returned to Pittodrie on a season-long loan and has been charged with the task of adding creativity and goals to the attack.

Christie scored on his first appearance in pre-season in the 3-0 win at St Johnstone and will try to continue when the Dons start their season against NK Siroki Brijeg of Bosnia and Herzegovina at Pittodrie in tomorrow’s Europa League second qualifying round first leg.

He said: “The manager mentioned it to me, that Jonny and Niall were players who chipped in with a lot of goals and assists and it’s something I’m going to need to provide.

“I welcome the pressure because I feel it’s part of my game I need to push on with. The more goals I score and create the better for me so I happily take that pressure on.

“I’ll have to deliver to replace the quality that has gone. It’s a good pressure because it will hopefully raise my game.

“They will be big misses but it’s not just down to me. Greg Stewart and the other players that we’ve brought in are more than capable of filling the spaces. We’re very strong going into the season.”

Christie has been impressed by what he has seen of the Bosnians, but is confident the Dons can start the European campaign on a winning note by making home advantage count.

He said: “They are a very good team. In the first game in Europe we would normally expect to get an easier team, but there are so many good teams across Europe now it’s hard to get easy games.

“We watched their game last Thursday on the way to our friendly in Arbroath and we were impressed by how they went to Kazakhstan and set up. They didn’t look under much threat at all for most of the game.

“But we are confident that in the first leg at Pittodrie we can get a good result.”

Rangers and St Johnstone have both gone out of the competition before the Dons have kicked a ball in competitive action and Christie is determined to ensure his club does not follow suit.

Christie said: “At Aberdeen there is a pressure and expectancy to get through a few rounds.

“Our aim is the group stage, we’re not just trying to hang on as long as we can in the competition, we want to go really far in it.”