RYAN CHRISTIE made his first appearance for Celtic against AC MIlan since being ordered into quarantine following his apparent contact with Scotland international team-mate Stuart Armstrong a couple of days before the Europa play-off semi-final against Israel on October 8.
The midfielder was sent on as a second-half substitute in the 3-1 Europa League Group H loss against the Serie A leaders after being forced onto the sidelines for the 2-0 defeat against Steven Gerrard’s side on Saturday.
While Christie was ruled out, Kieran Tierney, who was involved in the same incident with Armstrong, who tested positive for coronavirus, was allowed to play for Arsenal against Manchester City on the same afternoon.
The 25-year-old told of his anguish of being banned from playing after passing SIX Covid-19 tests.
Christie, who came on along with Mohamed Elyounoussi for Leigh Griffiths and Stephen Welsh at the start of the second-half with the Hoops trailing 2-0 to the Italian cracks, told BT Sport: “Obviously, I understand if you test positive and you have to isolate for so many days that makes sense.
“But I’ve tested negative now six times in the last two weeks and still have to sit indoors and stare at a white wall, so it’s not so good mentally when you should be outside playing.
“So, frustrating. Looking to get back playing now and, hopefully, it’s behind me.”
Christie, who set up Celtic’s goal for Elyounoussi with a left-wing corner-kick, said: “We want to win every home game we can in Europe. That’s what we set out to do to try and give us a chance to qualify from this group, so we’re frustrated not to win or get anything from the game.
“First-half, I think we started well, but two cheap goals we’re frustrated with. We know how dangerous and quick they are on the attack and that’s probably where the first and second goal came from.
“Second-half, much better. Definitely dictated the play a bit more, created more chances, but again not managing to get something out of the game was frustrating.”
Asked if he believed there was a way back into the game after the Norwegian international’s goal in the 77th minute, Christie answered: “Yeah, definitely. First five minutes of the second-half, I thought we can definitely get something out of this if we keep pushing.
“We did create chances and half-chances, and got into good positions, but it’s that final bit. We know we’re good enough to do it.
“We just need to do it more consistently and that’s what we’ll be looking to do.”
