Celtic’s weekend of woe continued with news that Ryan Christie was rushed to hospital after Sunday’s Glasgow derby.
The midfielder played for 81 minutes of Sunday’s defeat but looked short of his usual dynamic style of play.
The Daily Mail reports:
Ryan Christie was rushed to hospital to undergo urgent groin surgery just hours after Sunday’s Old Firm defeat to Rangers. The Celtic midfielder endured a day of misery after missing a first half penalty in the 2-1 defeat at Parkhead.
Caught up in a tussle with Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos, the 24-year-old played through the pain before he was finally replaced by Leigh Griffiths with ten minutes to play. Post match examinations showed up the need for an immediate surgical procedure.
Celtic’s next match is the Scottish Cup tie away to Partick Thistle on January 18 followed four days later by a trip to the plastic of Rugby Park on SPFL duty.
Christie has been Celtic’s outstanding player of the season to date with key goals domestically and in Europe taking his tally for the season to 18.
During Celtic’s extensive December schedule of matches, which included a re-arranged match away to Hearts Christie was left out of the matches away to Cluj and at home to Hibs.
Getting the 24-year-old back to full fitness will be a priority for Neil Lennon’s medical team although Olivier Ntcham and Tom Rogic are options for that position.