RYAN Christie will miss out on the both the Scottish Cup final and Scotland’s double-header against Cyprus and Belgium in June as he targets a return to action in time for next season.

After suffering a concussion and undergoing facial surgery for the injury he picked up in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen, the attacker has been ruled out for the remainder of this campaign.

He hopes to be back up to full speed though to help Celtic’s quest to reach the group stages of the Champions League.

“I am hoping for the qualifiers and pre-season,” Christie said. “I am gutted to be missing a Scotland trip again but hopefully the first day of pre-season I will be back in and running as normal.

“The first few weeks after the surgery were pretty tough. But I think I’m over the worst of it now, I’m definitely feeling better.

“I’m back in the fold here and it’s nice. Hopefully the recovery will be good.

“I’m still not training yet. I’m not due back training until next season. The first day of pre-season is what I’m aiming for.

“I feel fine, but it’s still a question of time with this kind of stuff, especially with a head injury.

“I’ll look forward to next season. I’ll go with my girlfriend to Greece for a relaxing time [in the summer] although I haven’t done anything for a month, so I need to watch I don’t turn into a big fat mess!”

Meanwhile, Christie is hoping his former club Inverness can join fellow Highlanders Ross County in the Premiership next season.

“That would be nice,” he said. “Inverness have a job to do on Friday night. It would be nice to have them and Ross County back in the league again. “The other boys are raging at travelling away back up to Dingwall and Inverness but I’m looking forward to it!”