It’s not often that Celtic players get recognition from some of the best in the business, although the admiration former Real Madrid and France star Zinedine Zidane had for Lubomir Moravcik has recently emerged.
When he joined the club as a 33-year-old in 1998, Lubo was something of an unknown quantity. Fans didn’t have particularly high hopes for the Slovakian but when they saw him in action, their jaws soon dropped.
In only his third appearance in Hoops, Lubo was magical, bagging a brace in a dominant 5-1 win over Rangers. From this point on, he was sensational, and it was easy to see why Zidane adored him.
Indeed, Peter Martin told a story on PLZ Soccer’s Journos Show about how the imposing midfielder loved Lubo when he was playing in France. He said: “I phoned Canal+ and I said, ‘Lubomir Moravcik, played over there, could you send me some goals?’ and he went, ‘How many?’.
“And I thought to myself, ‘What?’ and he said ‘There are so many’ he says, ‘Unbelievable. Left foot, right foot, you name it.’
“And he said ‘I’ve also got an interview with Zinedine Zidane saying he is his favourite player from French football.'”
Without the wonder of social media and the like, it was difficult for supporters to find out about their club’s signings in any way other than word of mouth back in the day.
If clips of Lubo had done the rounds before he signed, there would have likely been much more excitement regarding his acquisition than there perhaps was. With this, though, the beauty of the surprise of his talent would have been lost, and that is arguably what was most special about his time at Celtic.
