CHRISTOPHER JULLIEN went from Cup winner to crutches in the space of 10 days in December.
The Celtic central defender saw his soccer world turned upside down in dramatic fashion after helping the club seal the phenomenal quadruple treble with the Scottish Cup Final shoot-out success over Hearts in the delayed Scottish Cup Final.
That memorable victory at Hampden came five days before Christmas, but Jullien’s season come to an abrupt halt when he collided with a goalpost in the 3-0 Premiership win over Dundee United at Parkhead on December 30.
The 28-year-old Frenchman clattered a knee off the woodwork and he could now be out until at least October.
It was a dramatic swing in fortunes that left the player devastated as he was forced onto the sidelines as his team-mates toiled in his absence on their way to their first trophyless campaign in 11 years.
DOWN AND OUT…Christopher Jullien’s injury is looked at by Tim Wilkinson after the collision.
Jullien, speaking to the Celtic View podcast, said: “At the moment when I got injured, I remember Odsonne coming up to me and saying: ‘Chris, don’t worry. It’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay.’
“The first thing I said to him was that I was going to miss the Rangers game. It was a really important game that could have put our season on the other side, so to miss that was really difficult in my mind. And then to miss all the rest of the games was so painful.
“I was devastated. Every time in my career when I’ve had a little injury, I always thought I would come back really fast.
“So, to have those ups and downs – I missed about a month and a half because of my back – and then I came back, I was feeling good, we won the trophy and everything was really good and I was thinking the season was coming and we would be coming back.
“I just missed the adrenaline and everything we have when we play football, so to have to watch my team-mates on the screen was just painful because you can’t do anything. I would text them some times and wish them luck. It’s been a long time and it was really difficult.
“Seriously, my family was crazy when they were watching me watching the games, either I’d be talking too much or I couldn’t watch some moments in the game because it was stressing me so much. It’s good to see them team when they have good moments, but when it’s a little bit more difficult, it’s sometimes a little bit difficult to watch.
“The goal now is to be back with the team for pre-season and I’ll do my best to do this.”
