New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has reflected on having his heart broken by Henrik Larsson.
The Celtic icon is undoubtedly most associated with the Hoops, but one of his finest hours came for Barcelona in 2006, at the expense of Arsenal in the Champions League final.
Mamdani, a football obsessive and diehard Arsenal fan, still hasn’t gotten over the Swede’s two second-half assists which took the trophy away from the North London club.
He reflected on that night, and how it spurred him on to take the famous Championship/Football Manager video game series even more seriously.
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Zohran Mamdani: The name Henrik Larsson still hurts to hear
Ahead of today’s Champions League final — Arsenal’s first since the aforementioned night — Mamdani wrote in The Athletic: “I got stuck at school during the Champions League final.
“When I finally made it home, our goalkeeper Jens Lehmann had already been sent off. I watched as we made it to just 20 minutes away from glory.
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“Twenty years later, the name of Barcelona striker Henrik Larsson still hurts to hear.
“I coped by taking matters into my own hands. Even by virtual standards, I was aggressive in the Championship Manager and then Football Manager transfer markets.
“I finally signed Sebastien Frey, after years of real-life links. Under my stewardship, Jeremie Aliadiere and Jermaine Pennant became the stars we always knew they could be and we brought in Yoann Gourcuff, who soon fulfilled his Zidane-caliber potential.
“And like any good socialist, I budgeted responsibly — when I was in charge, we never would have offered £40,000,001 for Luis Suarez. It would have been at least £40,000,002.
“But as the years passed, supporting Arsenal increasingly became an exercise in nostalgia.
“We watched as the era of success was replaced by one of false dawns, of our best players leaving to play for our rivals. Soon, even calling them rivals felt aspirational.
“We went from the team that could sign Sol Campbell from Tottenham to the one that watched Robin van Persie sign for Manchester United.
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“And it happened again and again, with Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Samir Nasri, Emmanuel Adebayor, even Cesc Fabregas.
“Each of them had once heralded a new era for the club, and each of them left before that era ever truly arrived. Talk of titles was replaced by the idea that fourth place was its own title. And still we supported the club.”
It’s a fantastic piece, clearly written by a real supporter, far removed from much of the disingenuous guff we’ve had from Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino ahead of this summer’s World Cup in the states.
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