RYAN Christie played his first game at Paradise in three months in Celtic’s pre-season friendly against Stade Rennais on Saturday, and the Hoops midfielder is eagerly anticipating exciting nights ahead as Celtic target a long European run this season.

The Scottish champions were held to a goal-less draw by the French side on Saturday in the final pre-season game of the summer.

But the fixture gave Christie an opportunity to play in front of the Hoops support at Celtic Park after three months away.

The Scotland internationalist missed the end of the Treble Treble campaign after sustaining a facial fracture in Celtic’s 3-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win over Aberdeen at Hampden on April 14. His last game at Paradise came a week earlier against Livingston in the league.

The 24-year-old admitted he was disappointed not to have rounded off Celtic’s pre-season with another win, but he highlighted the many positives from the game.

“It was a good test,” he said. “It’s the last pre-season game for us so it was important for a few boys to get some more minutes in their legs. Overall I think we’re happy. We were frustrated not to score, but on the other side of things we’re happy to get a clean sheet. It’s definitely something to build on going into the big game on Wednesday.

“For me it’s been a while since I’ve got to play here at Celtic Park, so it was nice to get a wee run out at the end. Hopefully on Wednesday I’ll get a few more minutes in front of a big Celtic crowd so I’m looking forward to that.”

Neil Lennon’s side return to action on Wednesday (July 17) for the second leg of their Champions League qualifier against FK Sarajevo.

After securing a convincing 3-1 win in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Celtic are in a strong position to progress to the next round, but Christie insisted the Bhoys would not risk any complacency in such an important game.

“We were delighted with how it went out there,” he said. “In the first 20 minutes we had to figure them out a little bit and we were frustrated to go down 1-0, but our reaction was brilliant and it definitely puts us in the driving seat this week.

“The tie's definitely not over, so we need to be on top of our game to make sure we get ourselves over the line.

“It’s the first European game at Celtic Park this season and hopefully there’s many more if we can progress though the rounds. You can’t beat the summertime football at Celtic Park.”

Christie relishing Euro nights at Paradise after Hoops comeback