After he received a headbutt from Livinston striker Dolly Menga on Saturday, Celtic's Ryan Christie has warned the player of repeating his behaviour, stating that there is no room for such violence in football.
The incident occurred during the side's 0-0 draw at the weekend, and appeared to be unprovoked. On video replays, Christie looks visibly confused as to why Menga suddenly targets him.
Menga escaped the incident with a warning, but Christie has since stated his displeasure and shock that the striker did not see red for the action. The Scottish FA could yet decide to take retrospective action on the incident.
The 23 year old signed a contract extension with the Scottish champions on Monday, and while he was keen to speak about his progress at Park Head, he also wanted to give his thoughts on the weekend's incident.
November 12, 2018
Christie told 'Celtic Tv': "We want to cut that kind of thing out of football completely — and rightly so. There was no build up to it. It just came out of nowhere. It took me by surprise and it took me a few seconds to realise that he had just put the head on me.
He continued: "‘I think I said something like: “What are you doing?” because it was a strange one. But I was never going to go rolling down on the ground because it didn’t hurt me. The referee called us both over which made me think that he must have seen it."
The midfielder then proceeded to swipe away the incident and instead focus on his goals for the future with Celtic.
November 12, 2018
Christie insisted that he wanted to write his name into club folklore, stating: " In the longer term, I want to have a proper impact on this club winning silverware. When you are growing up as a kid, you dream about winning trophies and Celtic is an incredible club to do that at. There is the chance to win trophies every year and to be part of that would be very special."
However the young Scotsman is also well aware that he has to focus on the here and now in order to make a name for himself in the game.
He said confidently; "It’s nice to get the new contract all sorted,’ said Christie. ‘I’m delighted to get it over the line ahead of a big run of games in December. Now I can focus on my football. In the short term, I want to kick on and keep my place in the starting XI. I want to keep making an impact for the team when I can."