When Lubo Moravcik watched Reo Hatate celebrating his stunning goals for Celtic, the man the fans refer to as a Gift from God immediately recalled his own very similar celebrations against the previous Ibrox outfit and joked that perhaps the Japan international midfielder had been perhaps watching the videos of Lubo’s own exploits in the Hoops. And Hatate’s celebration against St Johnstone at the weekend is also quite similar to this one by Lubo at Ibrox in that memorable 3-0 win against a side jam-packed with EBT tax cheats, with secretive side letters facilitating their appearance on the park.
“When Hatate did what he did I was jealous. It was similar to me! The celebration was the same. Maybe he saw my video! Mine was over 20 years ago and it was fantastic to see it happen again.
“I was happy for him because it’s not easy to come from France to Scotland, as I did. But it’s not far. Japan to Scotland is far.”
On his opener in his double strike against Rangers in 1998 in a 5-1 win for Celtic at Paradise, Moravcik explains why he didn’t bother celebrating his first goal of that memorable afternoon.
“There was no celebration because it was easy for me to score goals like that. I would celebrate when I scored goals against Marseille or Paris St Germain. But scoring against Rangers? It was nothing for me. Seriously, there was a little bit of pressure on me that day. Mr Venglos believed in my qualities and he told me, ‘This is a very important game for you and for me’. So no pressure!
“Rangers had a very strong team and it wasn’t easy to prove myself against them. But it was absolutely perfect for me. I scored with my second touch. It was a great moment, when I saw the reaction of the crowd and what it meant. My second goal was unusual because I didn’t score many with my head. It was important for me and Mr Venglos because it proved he had signed a good player. He’d been criticised for signing me, but the move worked well for me and Celtic.”
Moravcik noted the importance of the first signing a new manager makes in shaping his own destiny at the club and in signing the four players from Japan, starting with Kyogo in the summer Ange Postecoglou has passed that particular test with flying colours.
“The biggest responsibility for the manager in British football is not to make mistakes on his first signings,” Lubo said yesterday, as reported by Scottish Sun. “John Barnes brought Stiliyan Petrov, which was important for the future. Martin O’Neill brought some of the best players in England, like Chris Sutton and John Hartson.
“Mr Venglos was quite successful with me. I was cheap, so it wasn’t a big risk. But if you spend money you have to be sure and now everyone is happy with the Japanese players.
“Kyogo is back after injury. He scored a lot of goals before that. He’s a small guy, but he’s very sharp and is always taking up good positions. There are also guys like Giakoumakis, who has scored two hat-tricks. It’s fresh and for the fans it’s great to see something different.
“Whenever I came back to Celtic I was thinking about bringing something special back for them.
I was always thinking about eastern European players because they have different mentalities to here.
“I didn’t really think about Japanese players. Now they are here it’s fantastic for Celtic. I hope Celtic finish well then next season it’s the Champions League. If Celtic want to be successful in the Champions League next season they will need a bigger squad and big money.”
Now sit back and watch this…
Video: A weekend trip to Scotland, watching Glasgow Celtic putting on a show…
