RYAN CHRISTIE admits he found it tough mentally during his recent period of isolation after making his comeback as a half-time substitute in Celtic’s defeat to AC Milan.

The attacker was forced to self-isolate for 14 days after being identified as a close contact of Stuart Armstrong , who tested positive for Coronavirus while on international duty.

Despite numerous negative test results, Christie was forced to sit out all three of the Scotland matches which followed, as well as Celtic’s weekend defeat to Rangers.

And after impressing upon his return at Celtic Park last night, he opened up about just how difficult the last fortnight had been for him.

“It’s been tough, it’s been very strange,” Christie said. “Obviously it’s a strange climate we’re in right now.

“I obviously understand that if you test positive then you have to isolate, that makes sense, but for me, I’ve tested negative six times in the past two weeks and I’ve still had to sit indoors and stare at a white wall.

“It’s not so good mentally when you know you should be out there playing. It’s been frustrating, but hopefully I can get back playing now and hopefully it’s behind me.”

Christie thought that Celtic’s change of formation to a 4-2-3-1 at half-time in the Milan game was effective, and he was frustrated that the improved showing after the interval didn’t lead to anything tangible by way of points on the board.

“I think that formation probably gives us a different dimension of play,” he said. “I think it”s good to change things to change the formation at half time sometimes if you’re not creating so much in the first half.

“The gaffer did that, and I did think it paid off, we played better in the second half. We’re just frustrating we probably gave ourselves too much to do in the second half being 2-0 down.”