Henrik Larsson

The only time iv ever cried at a football match was on his last game for us against Sevilla. I remember the speakers playing ''Time to say goodbye'' by Andrea Bocelli and I could'nt hold back the tears. I doubt that any player will ever have that kind of effect on me again. A Legend in every possible way. Iv noticed that some of the younger fans on here say they never saw him play as it was before their time. What a pity.

 

Seen that earlier on today, I wonder If that's the same way the older generation feel about the Lions or if its more?

 

An absolute Legend, and like Dev, the best player by a mile that I've seen pull on the jersey for us. He is even more special in my opinion, the fact that he stayed with us for as long as he did, because without a doubt, he could have picked almost any team in Europe at his peak.

It's weird watching some videos of games where he played, and knowing that I will more than likely, never see anyone as good as him again for us.

 

Henrik Larsson kicked off the "Barcelona Era" for me, with his Champions League final performance. I know Rijkaard left shortly after but that win was the start of their dominance

 

He pretty much won it for them. Check this out too, shows we arent looking at it from Green tinted specs either. This was Thierry Henry after the final whistle.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdfuyWZrCsQ"]Henrik Larsson praised by Henry - YouTube[/ame]

 

Look at how the barca players and fans took to him too. He was loved wherever he went.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkxMrXzcelU"]Despedida de Larsson Barça - YouTube[/ame]

 

Is Dev that good at football? :smiley-laughing002:




A question i wonder, in his prime where would you place him in the world, top 10? possibly top 5?
Not of all time, but at that time. Of his generation i suppose would be the term.

 

Legend is used to often to describe a player. In Henrik's case the word doe's not describe him well enough.
I am privileged to have seen him from the start and doubt, I will see a better servant to the club.
I feel sorry for those who have not seen him play.

 

I can always mind people saying top 12 at the time.


Henry
shevchenko
Del Piero
Crespo
Van Nistelrooy
Raul
Ronaldo

Ceartinly up there with them.

 

If you had to be picky and say he had one tiny flaw to his game its that i was never ever 100% comfortable with him taking penaltys!

Anyone else think that, or was it just me?!

Pound for pound propably the greatest headerer of a ball iv ever seen to this day.

Was Top 10 striker in the world in my eyes, and there were more top class forwards back then than there are now i reckon.

 

No, he was never the best at penalties. Martin O'Neill said that after he missed the oenalty against England in the World Cup, he said whenever he stepped up to take one for Celtic he'd tell Thommo to get on it.

 

Seeing his name mentioned genuinely makes me upset .

I doubt I'll ever see a player of his ability in the hoops again

 

When did he miss a pen against England mate? The only pen he missed in the World Cup was against Germany in 06.

 

Was it? i was sure it was England as well!

Just googled it, it was Germany though. He scored against england though ddn't he?

 

He did indeed. It was the 2-2 draw.

 

They two games have merged for me, I though that was the game he missed a penalty

 

Yeah mate, last minute goal to make it 2-2 :icon_mrgreen: Henrik was top-drawer in all international tournaments. Euro 2004 was probably his best with that sublime diving header against Bulgaria. Pity he didn't score in Austria/Switzerland but managed to get an assist for Zlatan and unfortunately hit the bar.

I'v never really fully trusted any of our penalty takers except Henrik & probably Commons, I'd be confident of him scoring if we get one against Ajax. How many did Henrik actually miss for us? Couldn't have been more than 3? That's over 7 seasons and we got a lot of pens. :smiley-laughing002: He scored at least 4 against Deadco, and a few in the Champions League.

Big John Hartson barely took any pens which I thought was strange considering how good a finisher he was. I don't remember him missing one?

 

Who would you liken him to in today's game? Either in terms of style or ability.

Benzema, Suárez, Lewandowski, Falcao, Higuaín, Ibrahimović? I can't think of anyone who comes close to him, style-wise. That little * over the keeper when he was through on goal that invariably ended up in the back of the net is something that's indescribably Larsson-esque. It's a kind of finesse that I've yet to see anyone replicate.

 

Is he still the UEFA Cup/Europa League all-time top goalscorer? 40 goals in all, I think.

 

Still miss Henrik