Luis Palma has been drawing a lot of comparisons in the early stages of his Celtic career.
Rather unfairly, he’s been directly weighed up against former hero Jota on plenty of occasions. Ostensibly signed as the Portuguese winger’s replacement, it was always going to be a tall order to live up to that talent.
Some of his play has reminded others of a certain Kris Commons in his pomp, while today, the comparison to the iconic Lubomir Moravcik is hard to ignore.
Luis Palma puts his Lubo hat on
Palma registered three assists and a goal in Sunday’s 6-0 rout of the Dons.
His perfect penalty and the first two chances created were reason enough to applaud but he saved the best moment for last with an exquisite cross, with the outside of his boot, for Hyeongyu Oh to head home at close range.
And, as pointed out by popular Celtic podcast GIGPOD on Instagram, it was almost identical to a Lubo assist for Henrik Larsson against Dundee back in 1998. Both came from the left flank, both were with the outside of the boot and both were delivered to the exact same spot in the box.
That game came on 7th November 1998, almost exactly 25 years ago, and also ended up with Celtic scoring six goals on the day in a 6-1 victory over the Dens Park side. It was also Lubo’s debut for the club – what a way to make a first impression!
Palma has a long way to go to match the contributions of an icon like Lubo. He was a wizard for an entire generation of Celtic supporters.
However, the Honduran is a lot of fun to watch when on form and it increasingly looks like he’ll be able to produce consistently for the team.
He now has five goals and five assists for the season. The attacker should reach double figures in both metrics with ease.
In other news, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers provides update on Kyogo Furuhashi after “nasty” head injury.
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