Celtic

Celtic: Henrik Larsson recalls moment he understood the Old Firm rivalry

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Image for Celtic: Henrik Larsson recalls moment he understood the Old Firm rivalry

Henrik Larsson has revealed that he did not fully understand the Old Firm rivalry when he joined the Scottish giants.

The 48-year-old recently joined Kris Boyd and Robert Snodgrass on The Lockdown Tactics podcast and during the interview, he explained the moment in which it dawned on him how much the rivalry between the two clubs means to the fans.

When the striker arrived at Parkhead in 1997, Celtic’s Glasgow neighbours had won nine consecutive Scottish league titles – and he revealed the club’s primary objective was to stop their arch-rivals from being crowned champions for the 10th consecutive season.

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Larsson said: “Not knowing that much when I came to Celtic about Celtic and the Scottish league and things like that, it grew on me. And I think part of the reason why we succeeded in doing that was [because] I think we were, six, seven, or eight new players coming in and [we] didn’t really understand what we went into because stopping them [Rangers] from winning the ten-in-a-row was so important and the way we done it was exciting for everybody.

“I think that for me it sunk home, I think it was the second-last game of the season when we come back to Parkhead after the game against Dunfermline, a grown man comes up to me crying and said ‘you have to stop them from winning the ten-in-a-row’. Then it hits to me really what it means to the people in Glasgow.”

Can Celtic go on to win their tenth consecutive title next season?

Yes

Yes

No

No

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The former Sweden international signed for Celtic in 1997 from Dutch side Feyenoord and went on to win four league titles in seven seasons. During this time he bagged 242 goals in 315 games before leaving to join Barcelona in 2004.

Larsson very nearly enjoyed European success with Celtic scoring in the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in which they were beaten by Portuguese side FC Porto in Spain (via The Guardian).

We believe, the club’s supporters would have enjoyed listening to their former hero describe the moment he understood the extent of the aforementioned rivalry.

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