Celtic's Magnificent

Henrik Larsson joined Celtic in 1997 and over the next seven seasons, he established himself as one of the greatest players in the club’s history

- Paul Cuddihy

ENRIK Larsson arrived at Celtic Park on July 25, 1997, without too much of a fanfare. 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.

The Swedish striker joined Celtic from Feyenoord, signed by his former manager, Wim Jansen, following protracted contract difficulties with the Dutch club. It’s well-documented that one of his first touches as a Celtic player was to set up Chic Charnley to score the winning goal for Hibernian in a 2-1 defeat at Easter Road, yet he would go on to score 242 goals in 315 appearances, making him Celtic’s third top goalscorer of all time, only behind Bobby Lennox and Jimmy McGrory.

He had few detractors, though those who dismissed his scoring record because it was only in Scottish football found their flimsy argument undermined by Larsson’s subsequent achievements at Barcelona and Manchester United, as well as his contribution to Sweden on the international stage. Anyone who knew anything about football always knew that Henrik Larsson was a world-class talent.

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

PRELUDE TO PARADISE