A year ago this weekend, Ryan Christie announced himself as a Celtic player with a devastating cameo off the bench against Hearts in the Betfred Cup semi-final at Murrayfield.

The 12 months since have been punctuated with intoxicating highs and devastating lows, from becoming an integral part of the Celtic side under Brendan Rodgers to doing it all over again under Neil Lennon, through rehabilitation from not one but two serious injuries to finally emerging as a Treble winner.

It has been quite the ride for the unassuming 24-year-old from Inverness, and perhaps nowhere has his rollercoaster career with the champions been magnified more than by his experiences on the European stage.

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As much as that day at Murrayfield is cited as the start of his Celtic career proper, the role he played in the win over RB Leipzig soon after was just as big a night for him in his book, which was then – in typically topsy-turvy fashion for Christie - followed by picking up a serious injury against RB Salzburg.

Then, earlier this season, Christie went from the top of the world to the depths of despair within 10 minutes in the Champions League qualifying defeat to Cluj, thinking he had scored the goal to put his team through only for that bubble to be burst shortly after as Celtic collapsed in the dying stages.

It’s a lot to reflect on for the Scotland attacker, but while he may have changed one or two aspects of the experience, he has no doubt that it has been the best year of his life.

“In the August of last year, there was talk about me maybe going somewhere in the last week of the transfer window,” Christie said.

“Once that shut and I was still at Celtic, the manager said he still saw me in his plans, and it was down to me to keep working.

“When you look back, I had some luck with some injuries on the day [of the Hearts game]. At that time, the games after it were every three days. We had a run and I kept going. I got lucky with that and it spiralled up from there.

“Before that, my first start of the season had been at Kilmarnock and I saw that as a big chance for myself, but we lost 2-1. You get very frustrated when your chance comes and you don’t take it. It was to be on the flip side of that at Murrayfield and suddenly everything came after that.

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“I don’t know if getting easier is the right words, but you understand the expectation of Celtic a bit more as a player and as a club. I’ve realised that it’s just constantly having to churn out wins and every game is huge.

“Everyone was pretty gutted after the Cluj game and none more than me,” he continued. “Especially the way it happened with the second leg being at home and the way it went. It was gutting afterwards but I think we’ve got a good squad of players who definitely learned from it.

“Although it was a major down so early in the season, we’ve not really looked back since which has been good.”

While that night against Leipzig last November is still special to Christie, he hopes that a win over Lazio tonight can better it. And he is fairly sure that Celtic will have to top their performance from that night to get the better of the Italians.

“I’ve said before the Leipzig game is the best atmosphere I’ve played in at Celtic Park,” he said. “Starting the game and winning it made it a brilliant night.

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“I hope it’s even better than Leipzig but to get a win we will need to be at our best. It will probably take a Champions League performance to win it.

“It just feels like a really big game. Lazio have been a big name in European football for years upon years, as have Celtic.

“It’s exciting for us. That’s why we want to go as far as we can in this competition.”