The King of Kings, Henrik Larsson, is enjoying life at the moment and has no immediate plans for coaching in the future. The Swedish icon spent seven wonderful years at Celtic Park between 1997-2004 and brought joy and happiness to many of a Celtic persuasion.
Amassing 242 goals in 315 matches, Henrik is a modern great and was even in the running for the accolade of ‘Greatest Ever Celt’ back when he was playing for the Hoops – pipped by the majestic Jimmy Johnstone in the end.
When the Super Swede left Paradise and those Parkhead gates behind, he would go on to do some more truly remarkable things in the game before he called time on his career. Pitching up at the Nou Camp and the superstars of Barcelona, Larsson would link-up with Ronaldinho, E’too, Iniesta, Xavi and eventually, Lionel Messi when he broke into the first-team.
He was the catalyst for the club’s 2006 UEFA Champions League Final win over Arsenal; coming off of the bench to put on a masterclass. So much so, that Thierry Henry felt the need to single him out afterwards in his post-match interview.
Of course, the shadow of Henrik would come back to haunt us when we drew Barcelona the year after he left and saw what it was like to be on the receiving end of that Magnificent 7 goalscoring threat. But there would be no hard feelings – and nor should there have been – for a man that dared to make us dream once again in European competition, who put our foes to the sword continually, and became a living day legend in the green and white hoops.
He would then go on to serve a short stay at none other than Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United back in 2007, sprinkling his stardust magic over Old Trafford and their own litany of generational talents and footballing royalty. The man who’s dreadlocks and tongue celebration defined Celtic for a generation, was recently speaking to MUTV about his time in the game and who was the best strike force he played with.
Always the diplomat, he acknowledged that they were all good but that maybe United had more quality in terms of firepower. “Playing with them strikers, you had Rooney, Cristiano, you had Solskjaer there, Saha, Alan Smith as well. But it is also the players behind,” he said. The midfield and the back four we had at that time was just quality. It’s different. I won’t sit here and say it was better but it was a little bit more quality!”
The serial-winner revealed that he also has no plans to get back into coaching and is enjoying family life in retirement too. He added: “I am not too busy with his career. If he wants to bounce things off me I am always here. But now I am a full-time grandad, enjoying life, travelling, play golf and paddle tennis. Not really looking into going back into coaching. It has changed a lot. I think I am going to stick to travel, paddle and golf.”
Enjoy it, Henrik. You’ve earned it.
Paul Gillespie
