RYAN CHRISTIE has admitted he couldn't bear to be anywhere near the Scottish Cup Final involving BOTH his teams.

The Celtic player was ineligible to face his parent club for Aberdeen, the team he was on loan at and will continue to be for the entirety of this season.

In a surreal finale to last season for Christie, Celtic broke the hearts of Aberdeen when Tom Rogic’s last minute winner at Hampden sealed the Treble for Celtic - as the ineligible youngster watched from afar.

“I was actually on holiday in Florida,” said Christie. “I thought I’d get as far away as I could from it!

“I just watched in in my hotel on my own. It was frustrating for Aberdeen but a good game the important thing was Aberdeen gave a good account of themselves over the 90 minutes.

"The other side was that for Celtic to win the treble was pretty incredible as well.”

While watching the situation unfold from afar as he considered his own future, Christie, readily admits that he assumed Derek McInnes was destined to depart the club when he was given the green light to speak to Sunderland.

No-one was more surprised than Christie when the Dons manager turned down the Black Cats and, in doing so, paved the way for the Celtic prospect to return to Pittodrie for another loan spell, having thrived in the Granite City in the second half of last term.

McInnes’ decision was as welcome as it was startling for the 22-year-old, who will kick off his competitive campaign against Siroki Brijeg in the Europa League tomorrow evening.

“I was away on holiday when it all broke and I didn’t know if the gaffer would still be here or not,” explained Christie. “Once it came out that he’d turned down Sunderland, he gave me a call to explain that he was staying and that he’d like to have me on board again.

“To be honest, I thought he was gone as well. I think everybody in Scotland did. It’s credit to him for staying. We’ve got into a routine where any offer from down south everybody seems to jump at it. It’s nice to see a change in the way Scottish football is going. Hopefully it’s for the better.

“After the manager made his decision, I made mine.”

That decision was largely based on a burning desire to be a pivotal figure for Aberdeen, having been a peripheral one at Celtic since joining the Hoops from Inverness in the summer of 2015.

After just six starts for Celtic, he was farmed out to the Dons in January and proceeded to hit seven goals in 15 outings, helping them reach the Scottish Cup final and comfortably cement second spot in the Premiership.

He is acutely aware that more of the same will be expected from him this term following the departures of Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn.

“Playing in big games at Hampden and such like – it wasn’t until I started doing that again that I realised how much I’d missed it,” said Christie. “To have that opportunity to hopefully replicate those games in the coming season was a huge thing for me.

“It’s a challenge to me now for a whole season to keep my consistency high instead of maybe three or four months.

“The gaffer has mentioned that Jonny and Niall were players who chipped in with a lot of goals and assists over their time at Aberdeen and it’s something that I’m going to need to provide.

"I welcome that pressure because I feel it’s part of my game that I need to push on as well.”

"The target is to replicate or even go further than last season. It would be nice to lift a cup this season and we are looking to push for first or second. It’s a big ask but I think we are up to pushing Celtic harder.”