How Henrik Larsson became the King of Kings
The following season, the Glasgow side dominated domestically again with Larsson scoring 30 goals in 37 league games and a double in the cup final win over Dunfermline. They finished 17 points clear of Rangers in the SPL with Larsson scoring twice in a 2-1 win against Dundee United in the last game of the season. Still, it was a sad day: it was his last-ever at Celtic Park. Tears were flowing inside and out the stadium that day as the King of Kings departed.
Larsson was 34 years old and had turned down many offers from the Premier League by then. “I was never interested in going down south and maybe earning a little bit more money because I had a good contract at Celtic,” he said. “No regrets about that at all. How can I regret that? The career I had at Celtic, the amount of goals and assists and the relationship with the fans and the club, I can’t regret that. That’s something I’m going to cherish as long as I live.”
Barcelona, meanwhile, hadn’t won a single trophy since 1999, and with Frank Rijkaard’s second season about to get underway, they needed a reliable, experienced striker to join up with fellow new signings Ludovic Giuly and Samuel Eto’o. A free agent who had just won Euro 2004 Goal of the Tournament with Sweden, Larsson was snapped up on a one-year deal with an option for a second. After scoring against Celtic in his first Champions League game, he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury and missed much of the title-winning first campaign, but he remains adored at Barca for what he managed in his second season.
Larsson was a healthy supplier of goals in 2005-06 as Barca won La Liga, but his greatest contribution came as a substitute in the Champions League final against Arsenal. As soon as he replaced Mark van Bommel in the 60th minute with Barca 1-0 down, he was chasing down any ball that came near him. A quarter of an hour afterwards, he was on the left flank to divert to Eto’o for the equaliser. Then, his sharp pass from the right wing found Juliano Belletti in a dangerous area and suddenly it was 2-1.
“People always talk about Ronaldinho, and everything, but I didn’t see him today, I saw Henrik Larsson. He came on; he changed the game, that is what killed the game,” Thierry Henry said afterwards. “All the time you talk about Ronaldinho and Eto’o and people like that. Let’s talk about the proper people who make the difference; that was Henrik Larsson, who made two assists. I didn’t see Ronaldinho and I didn’t see Eto’o.”
Brazil phenomenon and two-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldinho later said of the man who left Barca that summer having played 62 games and scored 22 goals: “When he came to Barcelona, Henrik said nice things about me, but by the time he left, he was my idol. In fact, he was my idol even before that. I remember him playing for Sweden in the 1994 World Cup. Henrik taught me a lot about football, and I learned even more from him as a person. I was disappointed that he left for Sweden because I would have loved to have played with him for longer.”
Helsingborg were able to lure Larsson home in 2006 and, unsurprisingly, he was quite fantastic for them, scoring frequently in the league. What was surprising was his December loan move to Manchester United.
Sir Alex Ferguson needed someone to fill in up front with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer out injured, leaving Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha as the only consistently fit forwards, so a three-month loan deal during the Swedish close-season was arranged. Larsson’s influence may have been limited, but at nearly 36 years old, he left Old Trafford with a Premier League title to his name.
“I have always admired Larsson. I made a move for him when he was at Celtic but then they managed to persuade him to stay,” Ferguson said. “He is a great player. It is a terrific bit of business for us. We are bringing someone in who can change a game.”
It doesn’t take a Scotsman to see Henrik Larsson’s divine talent, though. The whole world will remember the King of Kings.
