With Scotland set to face Gibraltar tonight in the first of two friendlies before the Euro 2024 tournament kicks off, Ryan Christie has been waxing lyrical about one Celtic inclusion in Steve Clarke’s quad.
The Scotland boss gave late call-ups to Greg Taylor, James Forrest and Anthony Ralston as he named his 28-man provisional squad two weeks ago.
The general consensus is that Callum McGregor will definitely go to Germany and it is up to the other Celtic Bhoys to impress in the two upcoming friendlies to book their place on the plane.
However, current Scotland midfielder, Ryan Christie, was speaking about James Forrest’s inclusion in the provisional squad as he explained why he was delighted for his former Celtic teammate.
Christie ‘buzzing’ for Celtic legend’s Scotland call
Remarkably, Christie is closer to reaching the 50-cap mark than Forrest. On 40, the Bournemouth attacker is two ahead of his compatriot and Christie admits that the Celtic icon totally deserves his call-up.
Christie said [Scottish Football Podcast], “It was brilliant catching up with James again. I was buzzing to see him, I was buzzing to see his name in the squad and when we met up we had a right good chat.
“He’s obviously had a brilliant end to the season and for the amount he has achieved at a club level with Celtic throughout the years and to show the kind of consistency he has, especially in these last 18 months almost, to keep pushing, keep on top of his game at his age.
“And when he’s called upon to step on and score some massive goals in big games.
“So credit to him. He 100% deserves to be here.”
Forrest last represented the Dark Blues back in the Euro 2020 after he was brought on from the bench for an 11-minute cameo in the 2-0 defeat to the Czech Republic.
Now 32, the Celtic winger has seen his international career kick off once again after his impressive form helped seal a league and Scottish Cup double in the final third of the season.
Hopefully, Forrest gets some game time tonight and does enough to convince Steve Clarke to take him to Germany because his experience could be crucial to helping Scotland progress from the group stages of an international tournament for the first time in their history.