Ryan Christie eager to make the most of his Scotland opportunity

Ryan Christie is relishing the chance to pit himself against the best as he prepares to face the Netherlands at Pittodrie on his Scotland debut.  

The on-loan Aberdeen man has flourished under Derek McInnes since moving north from Celtic, and he is willing the manager to resist the lure of a possible move to Rangers.

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Christie has been called up along with seven other debutants for Thursday night's friendly, live on Sky Sports Football, and he says it is incumbent on them to make the most of the opportunity.

He said: "I was absolutely over the moon when I found out. It was really nice not just for me but for Kenny McLean and Graeme Shinnie getting recognised at Aberdeen. I think we were all delighted, now it's up to us to prove our worth as part of the squad.

"It's a great test and when I saw it was the Netherlands that we were playing I was delighted because it's a really big challenge and that's what you want as a footballer, to play against the best in the world."

McInnes has been heavily linked with a move to Rangers in recent weeks, despite there being no official approach.

The Dons boss, who has been in the job for four-and-half years, rejected a switch to Sunderland last summer and Christie is hoping for a similar response this time.

He said: "I've loved playing under him for nearly a full year now, I think it's been absolutely brilliant. The gaffer's done incredibly at Aberdeen over a number of years now, so it's only natural when jobs appear that there going to be speculation with his name involved.

"It's happened before and he's stayed so hopefully that's going to be the case again."

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