RYAN Christie has backed his fellow Celtic midfielders Ismaila Soro and David Turnbull to flourish on their Old Firm debuts if Neil Lennon gives them the nod to face Rangers on Saturday.

Soro and Turnbull look set to start in the massive Premiership match at Ibrox this weekend after impressing during a six game winning run.

The latter has netted in three consecutive games – against Ross County, Hamilton and Dundee United – and provided a cutting edge in the final third.

The former has also performed brightly in recent weeks and opened his account for the quadruple treble winners against United at Parkhead on Wednesday afternoon when he scored from 25 yards.

Christie, no stranger to spectacular long-range strikes himself, was pleased for Soro and is confident the he and Turnbull will shine if, as looks highly likely, they retain their places.

“I would have been proud of his goal,” he said. “These days mine just fly into the stands so I’ll leave the shooting to him!

“A few of the boys were asking if the goalie is his best friend. Seriously, though, he caught it well, it popped up nice for him to come off the side of the boot and it was always curling away from the goalkeeper.

“A great strike from him and obviously when teams come in and sit deep against you, you need to sometimes have shots from range to pull them out a bit so it’s even better when they fly in.”

Asked if they were ready to make their bows against Rangers at Ibrox, Chrstie said: “Absolutely, I don’t see why not.

“The form they’re carrying into this game, they couldn’t be in a better run of form, full of confidence the pair of them. Obviously David got a goal too and has been scoring recently. There is no better form to be in going into such a big game.”