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| Venue: Hampden Park, Glasgow Date: Saturday, 3 June Kick-off: 17:30 BST |
| Coverage: Watch on BBC One Scotland, BBC Scotland & BBC iPlayer, listen on BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio 5 live & BBC Sounds, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app |
Ryan Christie admits to having second thoughts about leaving Celtic after the arrival of Ange Postecoglou and says the manager’s success comes as no surprise.
Celtic can make it a clean sweep of domestic honours with Scottish Cup final victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle, where the Scotland midfielder began his career.
“I got to see first hand for a couple of months how good Ange was,” said Christie, who moved to Bournemouth in the summer of 2021.
“It was one of the main things in my head when I was thinking about staying.
“I was really impressed and it’s not a surprise to me what Celtic have done since he came through the door.
“I got a pre-season under him and I loved the way he wanted to play and loved the way he got his point across on the training pitch.
“He was so all or nothing with his beliefs. When you have that absolute mindset, it normally pays off and you’re seeing that with the Celtic team right now.”
If Celtic overcome their Championship opponents at Hampden, Postecoglou will have won five of the six trophies available to him.
It is a run that has sparked reported interest from Tottenham and victory on Saturday would also complete Celtic’s eighth treble since the League Cup was introduced in 1946-47.
Christie, 28, was a key member of the squad that landed all three trophies in 2018-19 and 2019-20, making it four in a row for the club.
“It’s a massive feat,” he said. “When I did it, you don’t really realise what you’ve done, putting a run of trebles together.
“Now that Rangers are getting back to their best, pushing Celtic all the way, if they do it, I’ll be delighted for some of my old team-mates because it’s an incredible achievement.
“You only realise that once you move away or are looking down the line years later.”
The first major silverware of Christie’s career came during his Caley Thistle days when Inverness beat Falkirk in the 2015 Scottish Cup final and he starred in the semi-final win over Celtic.
Assessing the chances of his hometown club, he told BBC Scotland: “It’s going to be a near-impossible task, but then there are all the cliches like you never know what can happen in a cup final and it’s just 11 v 11.
“They’ve had a strange break with no games, but I’m sure they are all just counting down the days until the big day.
“If they can pull off a miracle, it would be right up there with the club’s best achievements.”
Hear more from Ryan Christie on Sportsound on Saturday
By Kenny Macintyre
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