AMID a chaos and cacophony not witnessed in Glasgow's east end for as long as many could remember, one man drowned out the deafening din and made time stand still.

His identity was a surprise to many observers but given that John Guidetti's Parkhead career had very recently gone all too quiet, all too static perhaps it shouldn't have been a shock. He's had some time to get used to silence and stillness.

The man whose surname in most dispatches over the past couple of months seemed to have extended to become "Guidetti, who hasn't scored since a penalty at Tynecastle in November" stayed calmer than any other in the 93rd minute of a pulsating encounter. With one swing of his left boot he sent the Parkhead decibel levels soaring anew, brought Celtic right back into a tie that looked dead after just 13 minutes and trimmed his surname back to its more recognised length.

The drought was over. And in the striker's home town, one man smiled a knowing smile - Janne Stahre, head of the Stahre International Academy of Football, who has known the Celtic man for almost a decade.

"Throughout his career, whenever he has experienced bad patches, he has always, always pulled himself back up," said Stahre in Stockholm this week. "He has a unique capacity to do that, to use his mental strength to produce real physical results out on the pitch."

Stahre should know. For three years Guidetti came to him for additional training, on top of the usual sessions with boyhood club IF Brommapojkarna. Though only 13, he showed focus and drive beyond his age, determined to go that one step further. The reward couldn't have been greater: when Guidetti left Stahre's academy as a 16-year-old, it was to join Manchester City.

"He always had a clear goal in front of him when he trained. He was the youngest player I had worked with, the first kid to come to me with the clarity of thought to know he wanted all this extra training. I could see he was something special.

"The stars from Brommapojkarna's first team were at my place during that time. He wasn't training with them at the club, but he would with me. Players who were much older, from a higher level - they all thought he was really, really good. They were excited about him. It's ironic, because Brommapojkarna asked us to scout senior players for them, yet they didn't stop to look at the brilliant player they had in their own club."

Stahre paints a picture of not only a fiercely competitive young man, but a proactive one too. One who can ruffle feathers on occasion.

"He told me a story once about when he was playing for Sweden under-21s. They were 1-0 down to Serbia at the break. By the time the coaches came into the dressing room, John had already gathered the players together and was explaining the next steps they needed to take in the game. That's not something everyone likes, sometimes it can be a threat to coaches. His personality was so different, I don't think they were used to that. His personality and his skill."

Guidetti's uniqueness isn't surprising given his background. Though he honed his craft in Sweden, a substantial part of it was learned in Africa. When John was ten, father Mike took a job in Nairobi, the family going on to live there for three years. Instead of playing football with the sons of middle class immigrants, he opted for barefooted games with locals. Picking up 'football Swahili', he learned to play around a well that happened to lie in the middle of the pitch, once narrowly avoiding a swarm of African hornets that passed overhead.

Amid the mayhem of injury time in Glasgow's east end on Thursday night, that ability to remain calm under fire paid off for Guidetti, big time.

"He is not your typical Swedish player at all, and wasn't even when he was younger. It's important to take your character out onto the pitch, and he already had that. His background came with him: he had a little bit of Africa in his play. You could see in his shape, the way he used his body, that he was different. Every time he went down, he popped straight back up again. Like riding a bicycle: if he falls off, he's soon up."

The forward's style of play isn't the only thing that contrasts his nationality. Like Scots, Swedes are wary of overt confidence, but Guidetti doesn't fit the mould. Celtic supporters found that out first hand with his now infamous hat-trick talk before the recent Old Firm derby. For Stahre however, such statements have a clear purpose.

"When John makes a comment like that, it's because he wants to put pressure on himself to achieve. I've heard a lot of people saying he talks too much, but for me he should never change. He's an interesting guy to talk to because he actually says something. He's not a 4/4, straight-beat drummer. He's syncopated and unpredictable.

One example stands out from when he was a kid. An older player was late for training, so he called me to tell me he didn't know where he was. I asked why, and he replied 'because John made me drive him over to his girlfriend's house, and now we're lost in Stockholm!'. Even then, at 13, he really took charge. He was never just a passenger, he was a driver. In elite level football we want drivers."

Guidetti is a free agent in the summer, and considering everything Janne has told me, it seems unlikely that he doesn't already have a solid idea about the future.

"Ultimately, playing time is what he's looking for. John has largely taken good decisions in the past - it all depends on his management and his father - but so far he has made good moves. As a free agent I don't think it will be hard for him, put it that way."

Stahre's most often repeated philosophy, one he drilled into Guidetti as a kid, is "the elevator is out of order, take the stairs". Fresh from Thursday's cameo amid the chaos, Guidetti is firmly a man back in the ascent.