Seventeen years ago today Celtic beat Rangers (IL) 6-2 on a never to be forgotten day at Celtic Park. Scottish football would never be the same again.
Celtic had stopped 10-in-a-row two years earlier but two more titles for the Ibrox club had put Celtic back on the ropes.
Martin O’Neill was brought in to turn the tide, signed some street-fighters who didn’t contemplate finishing second and found in Henrik Larsson the man to make the dreams of every Celtic fan come true.
Larsson had already been at Celtic for three seasons, one of them mainly lost to injury but he had shown in his battle back from a broken leg that would have finished off many players that he was something special.
In total he scored 242 goals in seven seasons, there are many favourites for many reasons but at Video Celts we’ve selected five never to be forgotten games from the King of Kings.
Chris Sutton proved to be the perfect foil with the two men instantly forming a lethal combination that terrified Scottish defenders and caused panic in Europe as well.
Time hasn’t in any way dimmed the impact that Larsson had on Celtic, the magic lives on setting the standards for the current side to emulate.
1-0 Boavista, 24th April 2003
Alongside Harald Brattbakk’s goal that stopped the ten this was the most important Celtic goal of a generation.
After all the hard work, and with thousands of holidays and flights already booked, it could all have fallen apart in a dreadful game against a club sitting in mid table in the Portuguese league.
Ten minutes from time Larsson got the ball and in the only moment of class during the game stuck the ball home to kick off incredible scenes in Porto, Glasgow and Travel Agents across Scotland.
6-2 Rangers (IL) 27th August 2000
After winning the first four matches of the season the real test arrived again Dick Advocaat’s superstars.
Celtic blew them away, almost, with three goals in the first 11 minutes but the game remained in the balance until a deadly double from Larsson in the 50th and 62nd minutes.
After scoring with a header the mighty Swede left the Ibrox defence humiliated as he shook off Bert Kontermann and Lorenz Amoruso before lofting the cheekiest of chips over Stefan Klos into the net.
After that match neither club was ever quite the same again.
2-1 Dundee United, 16 May 2004
The tear jerker.
After seven glorious years the clock was ticking down rapidly with the visit of Dundee United the last time that Larsson would don the hoops in a competitive match at Celtic Park.
The title had been clinched more than a month earlier, there was a cup final the following week but it was tense and nervous inside Celtic Park until late on.
Two goals from Larsson in the 81st and 84th minutes changed the tension into joy and tears, by the final whistle it wasn’t just the King of Kings who was in bits that it was all over.
1-0 Blackburn Rovers, 31st October 2002
Men against bhoys they called it as they looked forward to revenge in the second leg.
Celtic hadn’t been at their best in the first match but they had withstood everything that Graeme Souness’s side had to offer.
The hoops had a player that the Premier League superstars didn’t know how to cope with, five minutes from the final whistle Larsson pounced as a corner dropped to him in the penalty box.
At Ewood Park Larsson and Sutton were on target as Celtic genuinely stepped out on the road to Seville.
3-0 Rangers (IL), 29th April 2001
The title had been won by a landslide with a Larsson hat-trick claiming the League Cup against Kilmarnock but still the goals continued.
It had been a few years since Celtic had won at Ibrox, earlier in the season we’d lost 5-1, but two goals from Lubo had set up the party atmosphere in the Broomloan Road.
Goal number 50 of 53 duly arrived as Larsson cut the ball into the net from a tight angle. He claimed that he never bothered about scoring records but he certainly knew that the timing of his 50th was perfect. Debutant Shaun Maloney enjoyed his cameo.