WHEN Lubomir Moravcik put pen to paper at Paradise on October 27, 1998, few could have predicted the impact he’d have on Scottish football.

Fast forward four years, and the ’Gift from God’ left many a Celtic fan with wonderful memories of flick, tricks, wonder goals and trapping the ball with his backside.

Lubo, as he was otherwise affectionately known, played a huge hand in the successes of Martin O’Neill’s team at the turn of the century, and formed formidable on-pitch bonds with the likes of Stiliyan Petrov, John Hartson and, of course, Henrik Larsson.

They say greatness recognises greatness, and Lubo was familiar with the future King of Kings from his World Cup exploits with Sweden a few years prior.

“I first watched Henrik playing in the USA ’94 World Cup, when he was playing for Sweden,” said Moravcik in an exclusive interview with the official Celtic website.

“I discovered him as a player during that tournament. To be honest, I was surprised when he left Feyenoord for such a modest fee. I expected him to get a big money move, from what I’d seen of him before then.”

In Lubo’s debut alone – a 6-1 home win over Dundee on November 7, 1998 – Henrik netted a hat-trick, and over the course of Hoops career would hit 242 in 315 appearances. If greatness recognises greatness, then, what was it that made the Swedish King so good?

“This sounds cliché,” Moravcik added, “but the thing with Henrik was, he didn’t have one point or one trait that he excelled in, because he excelled in them all. There was no one trait he was good at in isolation.

“He was fast, he had a brilliant touch, he could play with his left foot and his right foot and his head. His vision was fantastic. His passing was fantastic. His intelligence and understanding of the game were fantastic.

“He could score free-kicks, penalties, and of course goal after goal in open play. He scored lot of goals, a lot of them for Celtic. He was the complete striker, and a joy to play alongside.”

The two Celtic greats would once again share the Paradise pitch on May 28, 2017, for a charity match the day after the Hoops first team clinched the Invincibles Treble.

That day, things went full-circle when Henrik's Heroes overcame Lubo's Legends 5-2, during which the super Swede bagged a first half hat-trick.

Lubo pin-points the skills which made Henrik Larsson so good