Henrik Larsson

I hope me but I suspect you

 

I'd kill for him.

 

Henriks mansion in Helsingborg is for sale , if you got 2,5m its yours!!!, here the link https://www.hemnet.se/bostad/villa-...g-helsingborgs-kommun-kullavagen-112-17759356

 

Henrik Larsson has been revealed as the UK's all-time favourite No.7, according to a new online study.

The Celtic legend has seen off competition from the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and Eric Cantona, according to data recorded by Online Betting Guide.





Tens of thousands of posts on various different social media channels, which closely monitored volume, interactions and text sentiment analysis showed the Super Swede to be more popular than any of his counterparts from other clubs across the United Kingdom.

The study is published on the day that the Hoops unveiled their latest No.7, with Greek striker Giorgios Giakoumakis taking on the jersey made iconic by Larsson and Jimmy Johnstone.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.glasgowlive.co.uk/sport/henrik-larsson-uks-all-time-21470270.amp

 

Henrik Larsson, arguably the best foreigner ever to play in Scotland, will be 50 tomorrow but the Swedish striker will be forever young in the hearts and minds of the Celtic supporters fortunate enough to witness him in action.

While he spent the peak years of his career at Parkhead, his enduring excellence was such that, having joined Barcelona at the age of 32, he helped the Catalans claim two La Liga titles, a Super Cup and the Champions League. Then, approaching his 36th birthday, he responded to an emergency call from Sir Alex Ferguson and contributed to Manchester United’s Premier League triumph in 2007.



Yet, as Craig Burley, who joined Celtic on the same day as Larsson, points out, there were no immediate signs of a genius at work when the latter first arrived in Glasgow.

“We both signed on July 25, 1997 and, as it turned out, I’d played against Henrik at Ibrox the year before in a World Cup qualifier,” he recalled. “When I heard he was joining too I thought: ‘Well, he’s a decent old-fashioned winger’ but no more than that.


“You have to remember that the Henrik Larsson who arrived at Parkhead wasn’t the one everyone thinks of now and, like the rest of us, he had a terrible start to that season. Everyone remembers his debut at Easter Road when his misplaced pass set up Chic Charnley to score Hibs’ winner and Henrik still gets annoyed when people mention that to him: it’s like ‘Yes, but what about the other seven years?’

“But I have to stress that - in those early games and even at training – there was no indication that he was going to become the club’s talisman or be such a prolific scorer. That wasn’t obvious to any of us.

“In fact, it’s frightening to think about it now but it took the unlikely appointment of Wim Jansen as Celtic’s manager – someone who had been struggling in Japan – to rescue Henrik’s career.


“At that time Feyenoord didn’t know what they had with him and they were trying to offload him. In fact, it looked as though he might just meander back to Helsingborg, where he might never have been heard of again



Fortunately, though, Wim knew about the release clause in Henrik’s contract and he’d seen something in him that no-one else has. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves for this but he’s the man who transformed him into the superstar he became.

“Wim knew what he wanted to make Henrik into and I’d compare what he did with him to what Arsene Wenger achieved with Thierry Henry, who had endured a terrible time in Italy as a wide player until Wenger brought him to Arsenal and turned him into the greatest front man of his generation.

“That’s what Wim did with Henrik, although it certainly didn’t happen overnight. After that defeat to Hibs we lost at home to Dunfermline and his first goal at Parkhead was an own goal in the UEFA Cup tie against Tirol Innsbruck. Gradually, though, it all began to come together.”



Larsson weighed in with 19 goals to prevent Walter Smith’s Rangers claiming a record tenth consecutive championship, with Scotland midfielder Burley contributing a creditable 13 but the former would go on to become the third-highest scorer in Celtic’s history (with 242 goals), behind only Jimmy McGrory and Bobby Lennox.

“The year before I joined from Chelsea, we had signed Gianfranco Zola - who’d been the heir apparent to Diego Maradona at Napoli - for £4.5m, which I regarded as the steal of the century,” said ESPN pundit Burley, who turns 50 on Friday. “But Celtic got Henrik for £650,000: there are average players nowadays who make that in a month,” said Burley.

“Henrik overcame his difficult start – we all did – and he was soon making an impact. The very fact that a player as talented as he was stayed with Celtic for seven years is something that just wouldn’t happen now but that was all down to him.

“The fact is that he was happy in Scotland. He liked his colleagues and he was enjoying his football. Even though Celtic were paying him well, he could have tripled his salary by moving on several occasions but money was just a sideshow for Henrik. His main concerns were ‘Am I playing well?’ and ‘Is my family happy?’ and he was and they were.

“Some players can find the adulation of supporters a bit suffocating but the more adored he was by the Celtic crowd, the better Henrik performed. He soaked up that energy and channelled it into his performances.

“He’s the most feted Celtic player of the last 40 years and deservedly so. And because, unlike some of us, he hasn’t moved into the media and had occasion to criticise the club now and again, he hasn’t given the fans any reason to change their minds about him: he’s smart that way."

 

Mental to think he’s 50. The ageing process doesn’t really scare me, but seeing people I know/love age terrifies me.

 

We changed our mind about you ya gummy * because you showed your true hun colours as soon as you stopped playing for us..

Interesting that it bothers you a tad..

 

Nailed it.

He was a good player here. Great partnership partnership Lambert

But burley is a * *

 

He was class for us mate. 100%..

 

Decent player Burley but never understood his attitude towards us since he left.
Sutton has shown that you can still be successful in a media career without constantly slagging us off.

 

Think he was bitter with the way it ended here.
2 seasons then off to Derby. But was that not more his choice to move back down south?

Either way. Tadger

 

Sutton doesn't want to slag us off..

Burley as soon as he wasn't getting paid by us, went straight back to being a Hun and you could see how much he was one of them during his ESPN/Setanta? punditry day's..

Gordon Marshall another proper hun after leaving us and whilst still with us going by his goalkeeping

Craig Beattie another off my head who quite obviously hates us..

 

Burley was my favourite player during his time here, I was only young so have that excuse

 

Craig Gordon has the potential to go this way as well.

 

Wasn't he leaking stories to the press ?

 

Might have been.
He does give the impression of a total rat

 

It was on this day in 1971, that Henrik Larsson was born in the Swedish town of Helsinborg and he would play for two of his hometown teams both at the beginning and end of his career.

In between times, though, his qualities as a lethal striker saw him become one of the biggest names in European football and that was mainly down to his time at Paradise from 1997 until 2004 when he changed the face of Scottish football and helped make Celtic great again,

The striker was unveiled at Celtic Park without too much of a fanfair. He left seven years later, heralded as one of the club’s greatest ever players. He was the Super Swede, the Magnificent Seven, the King of Kings. He was Henrik Larsson of Celtic, and supporters loved him.

Henrik Larsson was great for Celtic but, as he has acknowledged himself, Celtic was good for him.

‘This is my club,’ he said. ‘I’ve played with a few teams, but I made myself as a player at Celtic. I’ll be eternally grateful to Celtic because they took a chance on me when other clubs didn’t.

“It was here where I became recognised as a player. It was here that I went on to play in European Championships and World Cups with Sweden. This is a club that believed in me and I’ll always remember that.’

Here we take a look at a Magnificent Seven years – and Happy 50th Birthday Henrik…

PRELUDE TO PARADISE

Henrik Larsson began his football career in 1988 at the age of 17 when he signed for Swedish team Hogaborg BK. After four years there, he then moved to Helsingborgs, where he displayed his talent, scoring 50 goals in 56 appearances. It was an impressive return in just over a year and it wasn't long before Dutch club, Feyenoord came calling and he moved to The Netherlands in 1993. It took him a while to settle into his new environment, though his scoring record continued to rise over the course of the next four years. However, in 1997 he indicated to the club that he wanted to leave. Celtic, now managed by Wim Jansen, who had been technical director at Feyenoord when they signed the player, moved to buy him and after a protracted legal wrangle, he moved to Paradise in July 1997 for what would prove to be a bargain fee of £650,000.

DEBUT BHOY

Henrik’s Celtic debut is well-known for being less than auspicious. Coming on as a substitute against Hibernian at Easter Road, he inadvertently gave possession away, allowing Chic Charnley to score what would prove to be the winner. However, it was to be one of the few ‘mistakes’ the Swedish striker would make over the next seven years. He scored his first goal for the club in the very next match – a 7-0 win over Berwick Rangers in the League Cup, and in that first season he would end up with 19 goals and two winner’s medals. He scored one of the goals in the 3-0 League Cup final victory over Dundee United while, more importantly, he helped Celtic win their first league title in a decade and ‘stop the 10’. His goal against St Johnstone on the final day of the season settled nerves (a little!) at Celtic Park, before Harald Brattbakk’s second-half strike sealed the win and the title.




HIGHLIGHTS

The list of Henrik's achievements at Celtic could go on forever. He won four SPL titles, two League Cups, two Scottish Cups, and he was the top goalscorer in the Scottish Premier League in five out of six full seasons. In season 2000/01, Martin O'Neill’s first in charge at the club, Henrik had one of his most successful seasons at the club. He scored an incredible 35 league goals in 38 league matches, with an overall total of 53 goals in the season, helping Celtic win the treble. On a personal level, he also won the European Golden Shoe as the continent’s top scorer. Celtic began to dominate Scottish football and re-establish themselves as a European force and, not surprisingly, their Super Swede was at the heart of the success. His goals in the Road To Seville were absolutely vital, and he produced a stunning performance in the 2003 UEFA Cup final, scoring two goals. Overall, Henrik would make 315 appearances for the Hoops, scoring an incredible 242 goals.

LOW POINTS

There weren’t too many lows over the seven years. While the 2002/03 UEFA Cup run was a great highlight, the final itself was heartbreaking for Henrik and his team-mates as they lost 3-2 after extra-time to Jose Mourinho’s Porto side. Henrik scored two goals that night in Seville, and deserved so much more than praise and a runner’s-up medal. Back in October 1999, he had suffered a serious injury, breaking his leg in a UEFA Cup tie against Lyon. It was a major blow to Celtic and the player missed the rest of the season, only coming on as a substitute in the final game of the season at home to Dundee United. However, he came back even stronger and better the following season as the Hoops won the treble.




BOAVISTA

One of Henrik Larsson’s most memorable and dramatic goals came on April 24, 2003 when, with just 10 minutes of the match against Boavista remaining, he fired home the only goal of the game to put Celtic into the UEFA Cup final – their first European final in 33 years. It was an incredible moment for everyone – players, management and supporters.




BOWING OUT

Henrik Larsson left Celtic in the summer of 2004, after seven sensational years at the club. His final game at Paradise was a league clash against Dundee United, in which, naturally, he scored both goals to give Celtic a 2-1 victory. At the end of the game, there were tears on the pitch and in the stands on what was a very emotional day. During his last competitive appearance for the Hoops, the Super Swede scored another two goals to help Celtic beat Dunfermline and win the Scottish Cup. There was to be one final bow at Paradise – a farewell game against Sevilla – when the Celtic support said thank-you and goodbye to the Magnificent Seven.

HOMAGE TO CATALONIA

After seven great years at Celtic, Henrik moved on to pastures new, signing for Catalan giants Barcelona. The Celtic support had always known that he was a world-class performer, and he illustrated that during his time at the Nou Camp, helping Barca win two La Liga titles, and also the UEFA Champions League in 2006. He came on as a substitute and helped set up both of Barcelona’s goals as they came from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1. During his first season in Catalonia, he also returned to Celtic Park when Barca were drawn against Celtic, and he scored one of Barca’s goals in a 3-1 win at Paradise. He returned to Sweden and Helsingborgs in 2006, and during that time he had a loan spell with Manchester United, playing a part in their title triumph in 2007. He also ended up back where it all began, by playing for Hogaborg in 2013.




HOOPS HAT-TRICK HIGHS

Henrik Larsson netted 13 hat-tricks during his seven years at Celtic, along with two games when he hit four goals in a match. His first treble came in a 6-1 over Dundee at home in November 1998, while in that season he hit a hat-trick against Hearts on February 6, 1999, another one against Dunfermline the following week, and then four against Motherwell eight days after that. He also netted a treble against Kilmarnock at Hampden as Celtic won the League Cup in the 2000/01 season, while he scored three of Celtic’s five goals against Livingston in April 2002 as the Hoops retained the title. His final hat-trick for the Hoops came against Aberdeen in October 2003.

AND ANOTHER GOALSCORING THING...

Henrik Larsson is Celtic’s record European goalscorer, with 35 goals to his name. The first of those came in August 1998 in a UEFA Champions League qualifier against Irish side, St Patrick’s Athletic, while the 35 came in the UEFA Cup quarter-final against Villarreal in 2004. His tally is over double those of the next two in Celtic’s European goalscoring chart – Jimmy Johnstone and Chris Sutton – both of whom netted 16 Euro goals for the Hoops







HENRIK’S CELTIC STATS

A S G

LG 218 3 174

SC 5 0 23

LC 1 0 10

EU 58 0 35

Tot 312 3 242