Ryan Christie’s family were thousands of miles away when he enjoyed his greatest moment in a Celtic shirt.
While the midfielder was putting in a shift against RB Leipzig 2,600 miles south on the holiday island of Tenerife his family were enjoying the hospitality of a local Irish bar.
Within a minute of the Germans equalising Christie was setting up Odsonne Edouard to put Celtic ahead with one father realising that his son had cracked it in Glasgow.
“Needless to say the free drink and the tears were flowing as the place was jumping,” Charlie told the Daily Record about the reaction in Tenerife to his son’s performance against Leipzig. “Of all the nights to miss but as a family we were in dreamland.
“Ryan won the Scottish Cup at 19 with Inverness then got the move to Celtic in 2015 which I thought would be a huge challenge for him but that night against Leipzig saw Ryan finally make his mark. His performance brought a lump to my throat.
“That was the moment Ryan puffed out his chest out and believed not only he was good enough to be a Celtic player but that he belonged on the European stage.
“He took his game to another level. He made the set-up for Edouard’s goal look so easy. In that moment I’ve never felt so proud of Ryan.”
Thirty years earlier Charlie was attempting to break into the Celtic side after being signed up by Billy McNeill from Inverness Caley Thistle.
After two years of battling homesickness and failing to break into a side that could call on Andy Walker, Frank McAvennie, Mark McGhee and Tommy Coyne.
Charlie returned to Inverness to join Caley before finally getting his chance in the SFL when the new merged club Inverness Caley Thistle were given league status in 1994.
