The Daily Record has claimed that Ryan Christie could be fit to play in Celtic’s first match of 2020 when the Scottish Cup holders visit Partick Thistle.
After Sunday’s derby match the midfielder was rushed to hospital to undergo groin surgery with a range of highly speculative reports appearing on social media.
Christie was replaced by Leigh Griffiths after 81 minutes of Sunday’s match with no obvious collision to explain his injury.
The Daily Record reports:
Christie was rushed into hospital immediately after Sunday’s Old Firm derby for surgery to repair a damaged groin sparking fears the attacker might miss out on a large stretch of the title race as well as the crunch Euro 2020 play-offs in March.
But Record Sport has learned the initial prognosis is a great deal more positive and the Parkhead club believe Christie could even make a full recovery in time for Celtic’s first game back after the winter break, a Scottish Cup tie at Partick Thistle on January 18.
Our source said: “Obviously there were concerns after the Rangers game when Ryan was told he needed an operation. But the good news is it doesn’t look anywhere near as serious as some had feared.
“The expected time schedule for his recovery is somewhere between two and three weeks which is good news for Ryan, for Celtic and for Scotland.”
A running survey of Celtic fans suggests 90% are in favour of withdrawing all of Neil Lennon’s players from the March Euro 2020 Play Off for a Play Off against Israel.
That sort of feeling was heightened yesterday when the SFA hit Christie with a two match suspension for an incident involving Morelos at the weekend. Strangely a similar incident in reverse a year ago attracted no action from the Compliance Officer.
In the two previous Glasgow derby matches this season Morelos escaped punishment for off the ball stamps on Chris Jullien that went unpunished by the match referee, and Compliance Officer.
