| Match Pictures | Matches: 1998 – 1999 | 1998-1999 Pictures |
Trivia
- Viduka gave a press interview in Australia where he stated that the problem had occurred in Croatia prior to his move to Celtic and that after being constantly barracked and undermined by the club he was at an emotional and physical low and needed time to recover.
- Marc Anthony went on loan to Clydebank.
- In the absence of Viduka it was alleged that Celtic were chasing Portugese starlet Hugo Porfirio who was available from Benfica for around £1.00million. The Portugese striker had skill but was known to have an attitude problem. The deal fell through when Celtic found the guy wanted £12,000 a week to play. Meanwhile, a bid to sign Blackpool keeper Steve Banks was made. A fee was agreed but then it appeared that the player could not agree personal terms and the prospective move broke down. In the meantime Tony Warner’s loan spell from Liverpool was extended by another two months.
- Paul Sturrock made a move to take David Hannah back to Dundee Utd. Celtic turned down a £500,000 bid.
- The Celtic board of directors, along with their advisers, had been in discussion with the members of the consortium on the terms of their bid for control of the club but due to the regulations in the financial market no details could be released until a formal response from the club had been made. The club issued a 6 point rejection of the consortium’s plan on the day of the game; 1) the valuation the consortium placed on the club was too low; 2) the consortium’s bid would be funded by a massive overdraft; 3) the proposal also failed because it would have given preferential treatment to the major shareholder following any takeover, which would be BT Capital Partners Europe, the venture capital arm of the US bank Bankers Trust; 4) any shareholders taking the consortium's offer would find themselves with shares in a private business which would be difficult to sell; 5) the takeover would have given Bankers Trust excessive power; 6) the consortium's plans showed a lack of funding for new players; and finally 7) the board said it was fully behind the plan already set out by McCann to sell his shares to a wide spread of investors, made up of existing shareholders, season ticket holders and other fans. The complete bid seemed to b e funded by a massive loan which would incur serious debt charges
- Riseth, who had been pretty ineffectual in the previous game against Dundee Utd was dropped to the bench and Burchill came in from the start to give a more attacking line up. Jim Gallagher came in as back up keeper and McBride again sat on the bench.
- Riseth in fact had a reasonable answer in that he had constantly been played out of position and was being used all over the park in anything but his best position, which was in the centre of the park – a position which was now being occupied to good advantage by Moravcik.
Review
A second half bltz.
Teams
Celtic:
Gould, Boyd , Mahe, Stubbs , Larsson, O'Donnell (Brattbakk 84), Donnelly (Riseth 80), Lambert, Moravcik, Burchill, Mjallby (Annoni 72).
Subs Not Used: McBride, Gallagher.
Goals: Larsson 55, 57 pen, Mjallby 60, Moravcik 63, 72.
Dunfermline:
Butler, Shields, McCulloch, Millar, French, Smith, Petrie, Edinho (Templeman 75), Squires, Graham (Shaw 68), Ferguson (Martin 83).
Subs Not Used: Westwater, Fraser.
Booked: Squires, Millar (Dunfermiline).
Ref: B Orr (Kilbarchan).
Attendance: 59,024
Articles
- Match Report
- Manager Interview
“Larsson and Moravcik are two creative players and Henrik’s form has been long term with good quality, good skill and technical ability.
“He and Lubomir understand each other very well, but of course we had other players such as Paul Lambert, who showed good quality passing.
“Mjallby held possession well also and at the right moment went up to join the attack. He combined well with Alan Stubbs, who was in a libero role.”
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Dunfermiline | |
| Bookings | 0 | 2 |
| Fouls | 13 | 6 |
| Shots on Target | 10 | 0 |
| Corners | 14 | 3 |
| Offside | 2 | 1 |
Moravcik's one of old school
The Scotsman 21/12/1998
Celtic 5 Larsson (55, 56 pen), Mjallby (60), Moravcik (64, 73)
Dunfermline 0
WHEN Jock Stein was asked to name his favourite Scottish footballer, the big man thought long and hard before giving his answer. The temptation was to plump for one of the game's legends – a Jimmy Johnstone or a Jim Baxter.
Stein, in fact, chose neither of those men, though both were on his short-leet, and instead plumped for Willie Hamilton.
Although Hamilton's best football in a tragically short and unfulfilled life was played at Tynecastle, Stein had worked with the player when he was manager at Hibs in the Sixties and never forgot his all-round talent.
"All the others had that one special thing they did better than the rest," Stein reflected, "but what set Willie apart was that he could do it all – pass, shoot with both feet, dribble, the lot."
If Stein had been looking down on his beloved Celtic Park on Saturday, my guess is that he might have spotted a similarity or two between Hamilton and Lubomir Moravcik. In an age when footballers are even more one-dimensional than they were 30 years ago, Moravcik is a throwback to the days when players were multi-talented.
Unusually for great talents, Moravcik, like Hamilton, also comes without the baggage of fame. Unless you've seen him, you're unlikely to know how good he is. "I honestly didn't know anything about him," acknowledged Celtic's Swedish international Johan Mjallby, "but now I know he's a very good footballer."
Indeed, when Moravcik's 350,000 transfer from Duisburg first went through, his acquisition was mocked in some quarters – as if skill had somehow become the sole right of players who cost 5 million and upwards.
Although his age, 33, doubtless had something to do with the bargain fee, Celtic will never acquire more footballer for the money in the Bosman era than they got when they signed the Slovak.
Even Celtic's assistant head coach, Eric Black, who has watched Moravcik at close quarters for hours in training since his arrival in Glasgow from Germany, could not say for certain whether the player was predominantly right or left-footed.
Henrik Larsson, who is starting to build such a keen understanding with Moravcik, has an even sharper perspective on the pitch, but the Swede didn't know either.
As for Moravcik, after Black asked him in French whether he preferred to kick a droite or a gauche, the footballer grinned and made a pantomime of kicking with his right, kicking with his left and then nodding with his head. It was the sign language of a virtuoso, though, if you'd asked the Dunfermline players about Moravcik's performance on Saturday night, they wouldn't have needed anyone to draw them a picture of what the complete footballer looked like.
The Slovakian scored two terrific goals. He dispatched the first with his right boot after collecting Larsson's pass and ducking past an opponent. He then scored the second with his left after more good work from Larsson preceded a shot struck on the run so ferociously it left Lee Butler flat-footed.
Apart from the goals, Moravcik's performance was a model of industry and intelligence. Playing in the role behind the strikers with freedom to drift across the midfield, he was impressive even when Celtic failed to fire on all cylinders in the first half. He set up a couple of chances for Mark Burchill which the young striker neglected to put away and generally embellished an otherwise low-key Celtic display with glimpses of quality.
"The thing about Lubomir," reflected Larsson, "is that he can pick you out from anywhere." The Swede, who contributed a couple of goals himself in spite of failing to match his own sky-high standards, relishes playing with Moravcik in what has become a significant partnership for Celtic.
The Slovakian, unsurprisingly, repays the compliment. "Henrik isn't just a good player -he's the best I've played with in my career."
Jozef Venglos, who was in charge of the Rest of the World select which played Italy last Wednesday, knows talent when he sees it and was thrilled with the performances of Larsson and Moravcik.
"They're both creative players – footballers with great skill and technique, who also work for the team," he said.
When this pair are darting, weaving and executing shots of bullet-like power and precision, it will take a better defence than the short-handed back four Dunfermline fielded to stop them. Without Andy Tod, Craig Ireland and Richard Huxford, the Fifers had to make and mend.
In the first half, when Celtic played the game at too slow a tempo and struck too many slack crosses, Bert Paton's men were able to cope and their defence kept a clean sheet.
But after Celtic quickened the pace and delivered the ball forward earlier in the second half, Dunfermline had no answer to the onslaught and their rearguard was breached five times.
"The roof caved in on us after that second goal," admitted assistant manager Dick Campbell. "Celtic's finishing was magnificent – different class."
After Larsson's volley put Celtic in front and converted a soft penalty award a couple of minutes later, the Swede knew there was no way back for Dunfermline.
"Goals make the difference in games and it was the first one which changed the pattern of play," he said. "Teams come to Celtic Park to defend, but if you score they can't sit back any more. The difference between the first and second halves was that we scored and we got more space."
Mjallby also got on the scoresheet for the first time since his 1.3 million move from AIK Stockholm. The centre-back took it in turn with Alan Stubbs throughout the match to press forward and lend a hand in attack. They showed the skill of the libero in turning defence into attack, as did the often-overlooked Paul Lambert.
Though the Scot was asked to sit deep to accommodate the attacking instincts of his colleagues, he made any number of well-struck passes and was a model of efficiency. Of course, you couldn't ignore the modest standard of the opposition, but this was a good day for Celtic.