Lubo Gets 55, Happy Birthday To A Celtic Legend

Lubomir Moravcik turned 55 years of age today. The wing wizard was brought in to Celtic Park in 1998, departing in 2002. He became known as “A Gift From God”, however, the Slovakian later remarked: “My favourite time, my most special time, was at Celtic….They said I was a ‘gift from God’ but it was the opposite – Celtic was a gift from God to me…Celtic is unique.”

Lubo was one of the finest players to pull on the green and white jersey in recent years. He had an astonishing ability to score goals with either foot, immense trickery and even controlled the ball with his backside once!

Joining Celtic at the age of 33, Lubo made 103 appearances for Celtic, scoring 35 goals. He lifted the League trophy and League Cup twice, as well as the Scottish Cup once. Moravcik was central to Martin O’Neill’s debut treble winning season and also terrorised the likes of Juventus in the Champions League.

We wish Lubo all the best on his birthday and pay tribute with the following quotes:

“You wonder where he has been hiding all these years. Lubo is the most-two footed player in Europe, his talent is amazing. His contribution to the Treble-winning team was absolutely immense and I was delighted that he signed for one more season to play in the Champions League. He remains one of the most gifted footballers I have ever seen or worked with and considering I played with many excellent players at club and international level, I cannot pay him any greater compliment than that. In only a short period of time at Celtic Park he has become as big a hero as any of the Lisbon Lions of 1967. He must have done something special to have warranted such acclaim.”
Martin O’Neill (2015)

“One of the greatest 10’s in football.”
Z.Zidane on Lubo

“I don’t think you could ever replace Lubo, even if you had loads and loads of money to spend. It’s going to be hard to replace him, almost impossible I think, because you don’t get players like that around very often.”
Henrik Larsson (2015)

“I don’t know what I find more laughable; the fact that Celtic cannot find £500,000 from their biscuit tin to sign a proven talent like John Spencer, or the fact that they then spent £300,000 on one of Dr. Jo’s old pals, the unknown Lubomir Moravcik!”
Hugh Keevins, Sunday Mail; Nov 1998 

“I said every word of it, wrote every word of it… Regret every word of it…. But the role of a columnist is to give an opinion in a forthright manner and I was 100 percent wrong. I came here of my own free will today to confess my sin. I know there is no absolution as I’ve been doing penance for the last 20 years.”
Hugh Keevins admitting his error to Celtic TV on 20th anniversary of Lubo’s signing (Nov 2018)

“Josef Venglos will live to regret his decision to play this unknown Slovakian ahead of Mark Burchill in such a vital Old Firm Game.” Derek Johnstone, Lubomir Moravcik scored twice as Rangers were destroyed 5-1. (1998)

“If anything the signing of Lubomir Moravcik at a cut price has merely caused them further embarrassment.”
Jim Traynor on Celtic buying Lubo (1998)

“He is the type of player that makes people come to watch football.”
Rangers midfielder Ronald de Boer on Lubo Moravcik, (2002)

“I was fortunate to play at Celtic Park in the same game as Lubo, but not fortunate with the way he played against us!”
Pavel Nedved (Juventus star)

About Author

Hailing from an Irish background, I grew up on the English south coast with the good fortune to begin watching Celtic during the Martin O'Neill era. I have written four Celtic books since the age of 19: Our Stories & Our Songs: The Celtic Support, Take Me To Your Paradise: A History Of Celtic-Related Incidents & Events, Walfrid & The Bould Bhoys: Celtic's Founding Fathers, First Season & Early Stars, and The Holy Grounds of Glasgow Celtic: A Guide To Celtic Landmarks & Sites Of Interest. These were previously sold in Waterstones and official Celtic FC stores, and are now available on Amazon.

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