Henrik Larsson

Edward Henrik Larsson (born 20 September 1971) is a Swedish professional football coach and former player, formerly an assistant manager of Barcelona. Playing as a striker, Larsson began his career with Högaborgs BK. In 1992, he moved to Helsingborg IF where in his first season his partnership up front with Mats Magnusson helped the club win promotion to Allsvenskan after 24 seasons in the lower tiers. He moved to Feyenoord in November 1993, staying for four years before leaving in 1997. During his time in the Dutch Eredivisie, he won two KNVB Cups with Feyenoord. He also broke into the Swedish national football team, and helped them finish in third place at the 1994 World Cup.

Often regarded as the greatest foreign import in Scottish football history, Wim Jansen signed Larsson for Scottish club Celtic in July 1997 for a fee of £650,000. In his first season at the club, he played a crucial role in Celtic winning their first league title in ten years. He suffered a broken leg in a UEFA Cup tie against Lyon in 1999. Larsson came back stronger, scoring 53 goals in a 2000–01 season that saw him win the European Golden Shoe. Larsson won four league titles in his seven years at Celtic. He also helped the team reach the 2003 UEFA Cup Final against Porto, scoring both goals in a 3–2 defeat in extra time. His 242 goals in 313 matches saw Celtic fans nickname him ''The King of Kings''. Larsson joined Barcelona in 2004, where he won two league titles and the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League, providing the assists for both goals in the final. Following the expiration of his contract at Barcelona, Larsson returned to Helsingborg, although he also had a brief spell on loan at Manchester United in early 2007. He announced his retirement from football on 20 October 2009.

Regarded as one of the greatest Swedish players of all time, Larsson played for Sweden in three FIFA World Cups and three UEFA European Championships, winning a bronze medal at the 1994 World Cup, and is a former captain of the national team. He ended his international career with 37 goals in 106 matches. He also won the Golden Ball (''Guldbollen''), the annual Award for best Swedish footballer twice, first in 1998 and again in 2004, while in 2003 he was named the Greatest Swedish Footballer of the Last 50 Years as part of the UEFA Jubilee Awards. He is also the all-time leading goalscorer in the UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup.

In 2010, Larsson began his career as a manager at the Superettan club Landskrona BoIS, where he stayed for three seasons. He later managed Falkenberg in Allsvenskan, and he took over at Helsingborg in 2015, where his son, Jordan was one of his players. Helsingborg were relegated to Superettan in 2016 and Larsson left the club. Three years later he made a brief return in the same role at the club. He served Barcelona as assistant to Ronald Koeman from August 2020 until October 2021.

Early life

Edward Henrik Larsson was born on 20 September 1971 in Helsingborg, Scania. His father, Francisco Da Rocha, is from Cape Verde, and his mother, Eva Larsson, is Swedish. His parents, who never married and split up when he was 12, decided that he should take his mother's surname because they felt it would make it easier for their son to be accepted in Sweden. He credits his father for his love of football. His father gave him a football when he was 16 months old and as a child, he was able to practice with brothers and friends on a large field near his home in Helsingborg. He has said of his school years, "I experienced some racism, because back then it was unusual to have a dark kid at school, I was one of the few." He watched English football on television and his parents gave him a video of Pelé's life story, both of which inspired him.

Club career

Early career

Larsson began playing at lower-league Högaborg at age six. This smaller club was known to provide a good education for young players, and since Larsson left he has stressed how important this was not only for his football but also for his adult life in general. He went on to start his professional career playing for their senior team at age 17 while still at school. When he was 18, he had a trial at Benfica, at the time being managed by Larsson's country-mate Sven-Göran Eriksson. On leaving school at 18, Larsson combined a semi-pro football career at Högaborg with work as a fruit packer.

In four years playing at senior level with Högaborg, Larsson scored 23 goals in 74 matches. In 1992, second division side Helsingborg (the main club of his home city) signed Larsson.

Helsingborg

In his first year as a full-time professional, Larsson scored 34 goals for Helsingborg and his partnership up front with veteran striker Mats Magnusson helped the side win promotion to the top Swedish division, the Allsvenskan, the club's return to the top tier after 24 seasons in the lower divisions. His star continued to rise the following year, as he netted 16 goals to help Helsingborg to a respectable mid-table finish.

Feyenoord

In November 1993, Dutch side Feyenoord signed Larsson for a fee of £295,000. He made his league debut on 21 November 1993 as a substitute for Regi Blinker in a 1–1 home draw against Vitesse. Larsson took time to adjust to working and living in a foreign country and could only muster a modest 6 goals in 27 appearances in his first season. His goalscoring record improved in subsequent seasons, but he continued to be unsettled and frustrated by a combination of ever-changing coaches, being played in unfamiliar positions and latterly the club's player-rotation policy which saw him being substituted fifty or sixty minutes into a match even when playing well.

Larsson won his first major winner's medal on 12 May 1994 when he played in the Feyenoord side that defeated NEC 2–1 in the final of the KNVB Cup. The following season, Larsson won his second winner's medal in the same tournament when Feyenoord won 2–1 against Volendam. He did record a hat-trick in a 4–3 win against Werder Bremen in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1994–95.

In 1997, Larsson told manager Arie Haan that he wished to leave the club. A legal dispute then ensued over a clause in his contract that Larsson claimed would allow him to be sold on if a fee of £600,000 was offered. Larsson won his case and in July 1997, he signed for Scottish side Celtic.

Celtic

1997–2000

Following the contract dispute with Feyenoord, Larsson was signed by Celtic manager Wim Jansen in July 1997 for a fee of £650,000. In his first season at Celtic, he played the role of supporting forward alongside Darren Jackson, Simon Donnelly and later Harald Brattbakk.

In Larsson's Celtic debut, against Hibernian at Easter Road, he came on as a late substitute. He inadvertently passed the ball to Hibernian player Chic Charnley, who scored, resulting in a 2–1 defeat for Celtic. He scored an own goal in his first European game, although Celtic did go on to win 6–3 against Austrian side Tirol Innsbruck. He went on to score 19 goals in all competitions, and was Celtic's top scorer for the season. In November 1997, Larsson won his first medal for the club after a 3–0 win over Dundee United at Ibrox Stadium gave Celtic the Scottish League Cup. Larsson scored Celtic's second goal in the match. On the final day of the league season, he scored the opener with a powerful shot from 20 yards out in a 2–0 win against St Johnstone to clinch the championship for Celtic. It was the club's first league championship win since the double winning season 1987–88 and stopped Old Firm rivals Rangers from breaking Celtic's record of nine titles in a row.

Larsson's second season with the club saw a change in management with Jozef Vengloš taking over following Wim Jansen's resignation. Playing in a more advanced striker's role, Larsson scored 38 goals to end the season as both Celtic and Scotland's top goalscorer. During the season, Larsson also scored for the first time in an Old Firm match, with two goals in a 5–1 victory in November, and the equaliser in the 2–2 New Year's Day match at Ibrox. Throughout the season, Larsson forged a prolific partnership with diminutive Slovak playmaker Ľubomír Moravčík. He was also awarded the honours of SPFA Players' Player of the Year, SFWA Footballer of the Year, and Swedish Footballer of the Year. The 1998–99 season ultimately proved disappointing for Celtic, as they finished runners-up to rivals Rangers in both the newly established Scottish Premier League (SPL), and the Scottish Cup and England international winger John Barnes replaced Vengloš to become manager at the club. The season started very brightly for Larsson as he scored eight league goals in nine games for the club. During Celtic's 1–0 defeat in a UEFA Cup tie against Lyon on 21 October 1999, Larsson suffered a career-threatening injury, breaking his leg in two places in a challenge with Serge Blanc. This resulted in him spending eight months on the sidelines, only returning on the last day of the 1999–2000 season. John Barnes cited Larsson's injury as being a significant factor in his sacking by Celtic after only months in the position. It was initially feared that Larsson had suffered a compound leg fracture, an injury which would normally result in an even longer absence – or possibly even end his career – but X-rays soon revealed that the injury was not as serious as originally feared. By the time Larsson had completed his rehabilitation, John Barnes had been sacked and replaced by director of football Kenny Dalglish as interim manager. Larsson made his comeback with a substitute appearance against Dundee United at Celtic Park on the final day of the SPL season.

2000–03

Following the arrival of Martin O'Neill in the summer of 2000, Larsson had his most successful season for Celtic. He began a successful partnership with new arrival Chris Sutton, as he scored 35 league goals in 38 league games to become SPL top goalscorer and to win the European Golden Shoe. The season saw Celtic win the domestic treble of the Scottish League Cup, Scottish Cup and the SPL. Larsson scored a hat-trick in a 3–0 win over Kilmarnock at Hampden Park to win the Scottish League Cup, the first non-Scot to do so in a cup final in Scotland. He also scored twice in the Scottish Cup in a 3–0 win over Hibernian. Other highlights for Larsson included two goals against Rangers in the 6–2 win at Parkhead early in the season, scoring his 50th goal of the season against Rangers at Ibrox in a 3–0 victory towards the end of the season and finishing the season with a total of 53 goals in all competitions. He was again voted SPFA Players' Player of the Year, as well as SFWA Footballer of the Year and ''FourFourTwo'' Scottish Player of the Year.

Rangers manager Dick Advocaat said "Larsson is one of the best strikers in Europe, maybe the world. If you watch Batistuta, he is sometimes not seen for 90 minutes but he scores two goals. Larsson has even more, because, besides being a good player and goalscorer, he has a tremendous work rate."

Larsson's fifth season at Celtic yielded a second consecutive SPL title for the club. It also marked the club's first foray into the UEFA Champions League group stage. Larsson scored his first Champions League goal with a penalty in Celtic's opening fixture in a 3–2 defeat to Juventus in Turin. He scored again for Celtic in their Champions League campaign with the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Porto, and again from the penalty spot against Juventus in a thrilling 4–3 victory at Celtic Park. Despite achieving a Scottish record of nine points in the group stage, Celtic failed to qualify for the latter stages and parachuted into the UEFA Cup. The club were drawn against Valencia, with Larsson scoring the second leg goal to take the tie into penalties, which Celtic eventually lost. Larsson once again ended the season as SPL top goalscorer with 29 goals from 33 league appearances.

The 2002–03 season saw the club reach the 2003 UEFA Cup final. After losing out on a place in the Champions League following an away goals defeat to Basel, Celtic dropped into the UEFA Cup. In the first round, Celtic were paired with Lithuanian side Sūduva, with Larsson scoring a hat-trick in the 8–1 first leg victory, as they progressed 10–1 on aggregate after adding a 2–0 away win. The second round saw former Rangers player-manager Graeme Souness' Blackburn Rovers side visit Celtic Park in a matched dubbed "The Battle of Britain". Celtic went into the second leg at Ewood Park 1–0 up courtesy of a late Larsson goal. After comments from the Blackburn players in the media, who felt their team deserved to win, claiming that the tie was "like men against boys", Larsson scored the opening goal in a 2–0 away win. The following rounds saw Celtic beat Celta Vigo 2–2 on away goals, and VfB Stuttgart 5–4 on aggregate. Larsson missed both ties with Stuttgart, following a broken jaw, after a collision with Gustave Bahoken in an SPL match against Livingston, but he returned from injury in time for Celtic's quarter-final clash with 2001 winners Liverpool. Larsson scored the opener in a 1–1 draw at Celtic Park. Celtic followed that up with a 2–0 victory at Anfield to win the tie 3–1 on aggregate,

Celtic met Portuguese side Boavista in the semi-final. Boavista took the advantage on away goals after a 1–1 draw in the first leg, in which Larsson scored the equaliser after missing a penalty. In the second leg, Larsson struck for Celtic after a one-two with John Hartson with ten minutes remaining. The goal sent Celtic through to their first European final since 1970. The final in Seville against Porto saw Larsson equalise twice with two headers, although Celtic eventually lost 3–2 after extra time. Larsson also finished runner-up to Porto's Derlei in the competition's goalscoring charts. Larsson described the pain of the defeat as being the worst moment of his career, including his broken leg in 1999. More disappointment followed, as Celtic finished runners-up to Rangers on the last day of the SPL season, by only a single goal on goal difference. 2003 also saw Larsson voted as the Greatest Swedish Footballer of the Last 50 Years as part of the UEFA Jubilee Awards. He also finished the season again the top SPL goalscorer with 28 goals from 35 games. Larsson ranked 14th (in 2001) and 12th (in 2003) in the final standings for the Ballon d'Or.

2003–04

Larsson's seventh and final season for Celtic saw the club win the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Cup