For seven years at Celtic, Henrik Larsson was king. The king of kings, in fact.
His incredible finishing style, penchant for goals on the big occasion and undeniable thirst for success made him the greatest player that many Celtic fans have ever seen.
Every quality player that has shone for the club since gets the designation ‘best since Larsson‘, a sign that the Swede may well be the greatest Celtic player some of us will ever see again.
It’s always pleasing to see him pop up in a new interview setting to discuss his time at the Bhoys and in this month’s edition of Four Four Two, he reviews his entire career.
Henrik Larsson on his Celtic spell
Larsson was well on his way to icon status after his first season, helping Wim Jansen’s Celtic stop Rangers from winning a dreaded tenth league title in a row during the 1997/98 campaign.
The former striker tells Four Four Two that the end-of-season win over St Johnstone, which he scored in, was one of his favourite Celtic moments.
He said: “We didn’t understand all of that, which was why we managed to keep our heads. If we’d been there longer and known we had to stop Rangers from winning 10 in a row, it would have been much more difficult.”
Lows would follow of course and in 1999, Larsson suffered a horror leg break away to Lyon.
On that, Larsson made it clear how difficult a situation it was, stating: “I struggled with the simple things you take for granted, like going to the loo. I don’t think anyone who hasn’t been in that situation understands what it’s like. It made me want to fight even harder to come back.”
The Swede did fight hard and went on to enjoy his most successful period as a Celtic player under Martin O’Neill in the years that followed.
In his first derby after returning, Larsson was again the scourge of Rangers and delivered one of his most memorable moments ever in green and white.
The icon said: “I scored a lot of goals, but that lob is one people remember. There’s not a lot of love between the fans, but it’s the best derby in the world. In the same city, between two great clubs, all eyes are on when they will meet again in the calendar. The atmosphere, the noise in the stadium… I haven’t experienced that anywhere else. It really is indescribable.”
The striker and his teammates would go on to perform in Europe in electrifying fashion and even reached the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in Seville, which Larsson still feels was the worst night of his career.
The Swede admitted: “No doubt about it. It still hurts that we couldn’t take that UEFA Cup back to Glasgow. We played a great game that night, but the circumstances didn’t work out. The little details weren’t on our side.
“That Porto team went on to win the Champions League [the following year]. That is a testament to how good a team we had.”
Overall, Celtic gave Larsson some of his greatest memories across a long and illustrious career, with the player eventually going on to win the Champions League with Barcelona, finally enjoying European success.
Larsson concludes, classily: “At Celtic, I made a name for myself in this industry, and the player I was.
“Everything I did in Glasgow was fantastic. The club and the fans always treated me with great affection, and I had sensational teammates.”
With 313 appearances, 242 goals, four league titles, two League Cups and two Scottish Cups, in return, Larsson gave Celtic more than enough back.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
