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After an unexpected delay, Ryan Christie can’t wait to return to domestic action this weekend

- Joe Donnelly

Where were you on January 15, 2016? In Celtic terms, cast your mind back to a time before the Hoops had secured their fifth successive league title of the current nine-in-a-row run. Before they’d gone 69 domestic games unbeaten.

And before they’d clinched the Invincibles, Double and historic and unprecedented Treble Treble in the seasons which followed. So dominant have the Paradise side been in recent years, that picturing an honours list missing these achievements seems a little surreal.

On January 15, 2016, Ronny Deila’s men were at Tannadice – paying their last visit to the orange and black half of Dundee before The Terrors were relegated from Scotland’s top flight at the end of the 2015/16 campaign.

Goals from Jozo Simunovic, Kris Commons and a brace from Leigh Griffiths – the striker’s 50th and 51st goals in green and white, a milestone reached quicker than John Hartson and Henrik Larsson – ensured a routine 4-1 win on the road and maximum points, which saw the champions climb six points clear at the top of the Premiership.

Ryan Christie, then 20 years old and having just returned on loan from former employer Inverness Caley Thistle, wasn’t included in the travelling matchday squad. He was yet to spend two further loan spells at Aberdeen, and was yet to burst on to the scene at Celtic with that impressive League Cup semi-final display against Hearts at Murrayfield in late 2018.

Now, the attacking midfielder is one of the first names on Neil Lennon’s team sheet.