86 HENRIK LARSSON
The Swede talks Ronaldinho, Messi... and Alan Thompson. By Chris Flanagan
Congratulations, Henrik – you’re in Fourfourtwo’s list of the best players from the past 25 years. Lovely! I’m extremely proud because there have been a lot of players, so being one of the best is fantastic. This December it will be 10 years since I stopped playing at the highest level, and when you’re playing you don’t have time to look back on your career so much. But now, when I look back at things and see the old footage, I’m proud of my career. As a kid you dream of many things – almost all the things I dreamed of came true.
What were the highlights? My seven years at Celtic, and winning the Champions League with Barcelona. I can’t stress enough how important it was for me to be in Glasgow with Celtic, because that made me into a player who is now revered.
You scored 242 goals in 313 games for Celtic – did you surprise yourself? I knew that I could score goals, but I couldn’t have dreamed of scoring that many. It’s almost unbelievable. I loved playing for Celtic and I went there at the right time – in my first season, we managed to win the league and stop Rangers from winning 10 titles in a row. It was a privilege to be there, because we had a very good team, particularly under Martin O’neill. Reaching the 2003 UEFA Cup Final was brilliant, and having some really good players around me – like Chris Sutton, Stiliyan Petrov, Alan Thompson, Paul Lambert and Lubomir Moravcik, to mention just a few – made it so much easier for me to score goals.
You won the European Golden Boot in 2001. What does that mean to you? It does mean a lot, because I’m the only Scandinavian player who has ever won it. Obviously I did it together with my team-mates, but in Scotland I got only 1.5 points per goal that I scored, compared to the two points per goal in some of the other leagues. I didn’t even play in the last league game that season, but I still managed to win it. That was fantastic.
In the 2006 Champions League Final, you set up two goals to turn the game and give Barcelona victory over Arsenal. Was it the best night of your career? Without a doubt. I’d been in one big final before, with Celtic, and unfortunately lost that, so to come on and be part of turning around a Champions League final was a great feeling. People still talk about it, which is great. Every time I hear the Champions League music, I smile, because I know I was part of a winning team. If there were any remaining doubters about your achievements with Celtic, because the Scottish first division wasn’t as strong as many other European leagues, did the Champions League win prove that you were one of the very best players around? I think I stopped that beforehand, by scoring goals at the World Cup and the European Championship, but after my two years in Barcelona it was hard
for people to doubt me. I scored goals
for Barcelona – even though I didn’t start many games, I came on as a substitute and scored. Also, I went on loan to Manchester United when I was 35 and scored a few goals in each competition that I played in. Those things shut a lot of people up.
Who was the best player you played with? I’ve got to say Ronaldinho – he was at the peak of his powers when we were together. He could score goals and provide assists, too – he was a great player, and a fantastic man as well. I was there on the night when he played so well at Real Madrid that the Madrid fans started to applaud him. That doesn’t happen too often at the Bernabeu.
Who was the best player you played against? Fabio Cannavaro was the best defender. He was good in the air, quick, tough, and a decent footballer, too. Is it an honour for you, today, to be able to say that you played alongside Lionel Messi at the very start of his career? He played with me, you’re right – I’m older than him! [Laughs] No, I’m just kidding! I remember the very first time I saw him – he came with the Barcelona squad on a pre-season tour to Asia. I had seen him on the plane and I just said ‘Hi’, but then I saw him again in training and asked Giovanni van Bronckhorst, “Who’s that lad?” He said, “It’s Lionel Messi. He’s from the B team.” He was very young but he was good already – not as good as he became, but you could see he had speed, technique and skill, and that he could score lots of goals. He wasn’t a guy who talked that much, and I couldn’t imagine then that he’d go on to become the player he has been over the past 10 or 12 years, but it has been fantastic to watch him develop. He’s taken football to another level.