First of all, his Celtic career didn’t get off to the best of starts, giving the ball away, essentially setting up the winner for Hibernian. European debut he scored an own goal. Der Huns must have smug as fuck in the pub, “Henrik Larsson, who the fuck have they signed noo?” Smiling on the other side of their faces 7 years later, and shivers still go up their spine at the very mention of his name. The man is a genius, and we seen this in his first season as he bagged 18 league goals, including a very, very important one on the last day against St. Johnstone. That goal stopped the 10. He excelled in his goalscoring achievements the next season as he netted no less than thirty-eight times for The Hoops, including his first in an Old Firm match. This earned him the Scottish Golden Boot. Over the course of this season, he forged an almost telepathic partnership between Slovak Lubomir Moravcik. At the end of the season, He was awarded the honours of SPFA PLayer’s Player of the Year, SWFA Footballer of the Year and Swedish Footballer of the year.
The next season looked promising for the Swede, but a European match against Lyon brought things to a dramatic halt. Tracking back to help out the defence (this indicates his incredible work rate) he was involved in a clash with Lyon player Serge Blanc. Larsson’s studs caught the turf and he broke his leg. He was out of action for eight months, and made his next appearance for The Bhoys against Dundee Utd. at Celtic Park on the final day of the league campaign. He scored 8 times in 9 matches for Celtic.
The 2000/01 season was Larsson’s most prolific. He forged a partnership with new arrival Chris Sutton as they helped Celtic to lift the domestic Treble. He scored 53 times in all competitions for Celtic, and his 50th came at Ibrox, against Rangers in a 3-0 rout. Following his goal tally, he received the European Golden Boot and the SPL Golden Boot.
2001/02 season was another successful one for Larsson. Helping them throughout their first UEFA Champions Leagie campaign, he again finished top scorer as The Celts went on to life the League title for the second season in a row. Henik again claimed the Golden Boot.
The next season saw one of the greatest European runs in the club’s history, reaching the UEFA Cup final. The route to the final was exciting and Henrik helped to beat Liverpool and Blackburn. He was the man who scored the goal to take us through to the Final, to face a young Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto. The final itself saw a sub-standard performance by the referee. Larsson, however, was the best player on the park as he bagged 2 headed goals, and the Man of the Match award. Celtic finished the season trophyless, and Larsson was the second top scorer in the UEFA Cup, and the top scorer in the SPL yet again. Larsson was also voted Best Swedish Footballer of the Last 50 Years.
2003/04 was an emotional season for dear Henrik, as it was his last. Celtic claimed the League and Scottish Cup double, and it was Henrik himself who helped the side to win the former, with a brace followed by a Stilian Petrov strike. He set up the winner in an unforgettable match against Barcelona, in which there was three red cards, and a young goalkeeper named David Marshall excelled in the second half, and kept a clean sheet at the Nou Camp. This season also saw a whitewash of rivals Rangers. Five games out of five Celtic won against their bitter rivals, and Henrik scored his last against them with a typical bullet header.
Having attracted the attention of many a European club, he decided to play out his contract at his beloved Celtic, and join Barcelona via the Bosman ruling, in 2004, where he went on to set up Barcelona’s two goals in the 2006 Champions Leage Final. He later joined his home town club of Helsinborg, and during the close-season, he joined Manchester United, where long-time admirer Sir Alex Ferguson wishes he had stayed longer.
To conclude, I would say that he is the ultimate forward. He is strong, quick and can finish form anywhere inside 25 yards. Standing 5ft 9 inches tall, he is hardly the tallest player the world has ever seen, but oh my, he could jump. The number of headers he scored for Celtic was unreal, given his stature, but most of these times, he would just ghost away from defenders, and create so much space for himself. He will always have a place in the hearts of Celtic fans. When will we see his like again? Henrik Larsson, the Bhoy who would be King.
