Celtic's Ryan Christie on the European club he has a "personal vendetta" against

Ryan Christie believes retribution will be firmly in Celtic minds when they face Sparta Prague on Thursday.

Celtic's Ryan Christie wants to lick Sparta Prague to atone for the brutal 4-1 defeat by the Czechs in Glasgow (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

The trip to the Czech Republic capital for the Europa League encounter will be the second part of a Group H double header following Sparta’s 4-1 mauling of Neil Lennon’s men three weeks ago that has left the Scottish champions facing the European exit door with a mere point from the first half of a section comprising Lille and AC Milan.

On the back of more league points being shipped with the 2-2 draw away to Hibernian at the weekend, Christie knows Celtic need a result to quell the ire being directed towards the club’s manager, as much as to prevent group qualification hopes being entirely extinguished. However, the Scotland midfielder also sees the tie as a chance for revenge.

“We’ve got a bit of a personal vendetta about the way the game at Parkhead went so we want to put that right,” he said. “We’ve been frustrated with our form in Europe right now. The gaffer has mentioned it a couple of times and we want to put that right, starting on Thursday night.

“We want to prove ourselves in Europe. It felt like we fell one short last season against Copenhagen [in the last 32]. It felt like we could have gone an extra couple of rounds. Last year we did very well in the group and every season we want to prove ourselves in Europe. We’re still looking to do the same this year and that means going out and getting results against these teams.”

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