The journey to becoming a Celtic first team player is never easy but few can match that of Rudi Vata. The former defender’s story is one of struggle and determination after a cunning “masterplan” which saw him swap shirts with the legendary Eric Cantona one night before waking up in a refugee camp the following morning.
Vata’s is a tale of triumph over adversity after he feigned injury while playing for the Albanian national team, ran down the Parc de Princes tunnel, got changed, stuffed $50 into his pocket and made a beeping for a Paris police station where he asked to claim political asylum.
That was in March 1991 - two years later he earned a dream move to Parkhead where he spent three years, during which he lifted the Scottish Cup under Tommy Burns to become the first player from his nation to win an honour in a major European country.
Vata’s break came when he caught the eye of then Hoops manager Liam Brady thanks to a man of the match performance for Albania against the Republic of Ireland in 1992 but it was THAT game in Paris and events after it that paved the way.