Brendan Rodgers has set Celtic flying this season, with the question being just how high they can go.

It was the tutelage of his fellow countryman, Martin O’Neill, who restored Celtic’s credibility and reputation on the Continent and also moulded the team back into a dominant force on the domestic front as the club headed into a new millennium.

Under O’Neill Celtic did not just collect baubles and silverware, but took control of the landscape; in season 2003-04 the Parkhead side clocked up a record breaking run of 25 consecutive league victories, still a British record in top flight football. With Henrik Larsson the chief tormentor in chief, amassing 40 goals that season, Celtic netted a league best of 105 – a count that also still stands to be beaten.

Read more: Lubo Moravcik tells Celtic: Show no fear against Barca

Interestingly, after 11 games played so far this season, Rodgers’ team are currently one goal better off than O’Neill’s team were in that record-breaking season. After a comparable number of games gone in 2003-04, the Hoops had found the back of the net 33 times; this term’s goals for column currently sits at 34.

Lubomir Moravcik believes that the manner in which Celtic have swept all before them aside comes down to belief and confidence.

“When Martin first came into the club he gave us a lot of confidence but we saw for ourselves with the results on the park that what he was saying was right – it seems to be the same this season.

Read more: Lubo Moravcik tells Celtic: Show no fear against Barca

“When you have that feeling in the team, you feel that you can win every time you step onto the pitch. But he was very clever too; he made us always think that it was not easy. That even when we were playing smaller teams in the league we had to play as though we were playing against the very best and I think I have seen something of that again this season in Celtic.

“It is an attitude, how you go about your game as a professional.”

Larsson, Chris Sutton and John Hartson made up Celtic’s attacking triumvirate during the latter years of Moravcik’s time at the club.

But he was always there or thereabouts in terms of goals while he played in a midfield who could always be trusted to come up with something; Alan Thompson, Stiliyan Petrov and, to a lesser extent, Didier Agathe chipped in on that front.

As the game has moved on Celtic are favouring the current system of playing with one out-and-out forward but bolstered by a forward-minded midfield, with the results suggesting some success on that front.

Scott Sinclair has already weighed in with 10, while Tom Rogic isn’t far behind with 8 for the season so far.

“It is far harder to play against a team who have goals from all over the pitch,” said Moravcik. “I was over in Glasgow earlier this season for the 5-0 win over Motherwell in the League Cup and I was really pleased with the way they played as a team and how they looked threatening from so many different positions.

“It is fun to watch too. I am sure the supporters will be loving it because the kind of football they are playing is so good to sit back and look at because you feel that every time they go forward they might score.

“That is the only live game I have seen this season but I am always watching it on television and on YouTube; Celtic doesn’t leave you!”

Last season Leigh Griffiths was the main source of goals for the club with the striker hitting 40. And Moravcik is well aware how frustrated the 26-year-old will be having to kick his heels this term on the bench.

“It is a great problem for the coach to have – and far better to have two forwards that you know will score goals than only one.

“I was at the player of the year dinner at Celtic Park at the end of last season and I spoke to Leigh; I thought some of his goals were very good and he is a really instinctive, clever forward.

“He has not lost that. He will always be counted on for goals. But I can also see how well Moussa Dembele has done.

“He is very good, a really good signing for the club. He is so powerful and although he can still look a bit raw, there is something very exciting about him to watch. I like his calmness and, of course, as a striker at Celtic he needs to score regularly and he has shown he can do that at all levels.

“I just hope that the club can keep him for as long as possible because they want to build a team to go forward.”

Read more: Lubo Moravcik tells Celtic: Show no fear against Barca

Dembele’s namesake, Karamoko, hit the headlines earlier this season when the 13-year-old took part in the final minutes of a development game, with even Moravcik taking note of the precocious youngster.

“In ten years time Celtic will not fear playing Barcelona if they have this Dembele in their team,” laughed Lubo. “I had to go and look him up. So I went through YouTube and I think he looks like an extraordinary talent – the new Lionel Messi!

“I am joking, of course, but he is quite extraordinary. And it was an extraordinary story that he was playing against young men when he was still only 13. He will be nurtured now by Celtic but I am already excited to see what the next few years bring when he is ready to play for the top team. I don’t think it will take too long!”