Ryan Christie has refused to write off playing a role in the Scottish Cup Final against Hearts at Hampden.
The midfielder was stretchered off in the semi-final win over Aberdeen with Celtic confirming that he had suffered multiple facial fractures ahead of surgery on Thursday.
No timescale was given for when he would be back in action but despite the scale of the fractures The Sun claims that he is setting the target of being part of Neil Lennon’s Hampden squad on May 25.
But SunSport understands Christie has NOT been ruled out of the Hampden Park final on May 25. The Scotland star remains hopeful that he can recover from surgery in time to face Craig Levein’s Hearts.
Christie was stretchered off the field after the sickening collision with Aberdeen’s Dominic Ball. His Celtic team-mate Kristoffer Ajer suffered a similar injury against Livingston on November 11 last year.
But the Norwegian was back training within three weeks and returned to the Celtic team on December 13. Christie is determined to be back in a similar time frame — with the Hampden final five and a half weeks away.
Facing Hearts on the last day of the season would be ironic for the 23-year-old who effectively salvaged his Celtic career in the Betfred Cup semi-final against Craig Levein’s side at Murrayfield in October.
With the match goal-less at half-time he replaced the injured Olivier Ntcham at half-time and quickly won Celtic a penalty.
Soon afterwards he had a massive assist in the second goal for James Forrest before sealing his Man of the Match performance with a goal of his own.
Tom Rogic replaced Christie at Hampden and is expected to play from the start when Celtic face Hibs at Easter Road on Sunday.
