Feyenoord was before his prime.
He did his cruciate ligament in his first season at Barca and his goal ratio would have been a lot better otherwise. He still came back and won them the Champions league final the following season.
He was old at united and was more a team player in his later years but he still had a fantastic impact on the squad.
Scotland may be a smaller league but it was a lot stronger then than it is now. Your talking players like Gattuso, Van hoojidonk, de boer brothers, Viduka, Larsson, Van Bronkhorst, Arteta, Di Canio.
In 2001 Larsson was the top scorer in the whole of Europe. Phenomenal considering he broke his leg only the season before.
He scored 35 league goals. It's ok saying the league was weaker but his nearest competitor only had 17. To score 18 more goals than even the second highest scorer in the League was unbelieveable.
Yes Zlatan was a fantastic scorer for Sweden and is a legend also but that takes nothing away from Larsson who has 5 world cup goals to Zlatan's 0.
Some Fellow Footballers and Managers on Larsson
Ronaldinho
“With Henrik leaving us at the end of the season this club is losing a great scorer, no question. But I am also losing a great friend. Henrik was my idol and now that I am playing next to him it is fantastic.
Sir Alex Ferguson
“On arrival at United, he seemed a bit of a cult figure with our players. They would say his name in awed tones. For a man of 35, his receptiveness to information on the coaching side was amazing.
“At every session he was rapt. He wanted to listen to Carlos Queiroz, the tactics lectures, he was into every nuance of what we did. In training he was superb, his movement, his positional play. His three goals for us was no measure of his contribution.
“In his last game in our colours at Middlesbrough we were winning 2-1 and Henrik went back to play in midfield and ran his balls off. On his return to the dressing room, all the players stood up and applauded him and the staff joined in. It takes some player to make that kind of impact in two months.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
“We all know Henrik is a quality player. I have said before I think he is the best Scandinavian player since Michael Laudrup – and he has shown that in training and games.
“His touch is something we can all learn from. You never stop learning as a player and Henrik has done a few tricks in training that have had us all standing up and looking and saying, ‘We have not seen that before.'”
Gianluigi Buffon
“Over my career I have played against some of the best strikers there has ever been. Both Ronaldos, Roberto Baggio, Zlatan Ibrahimovic – and I can honestly say Larsson is not out of place in those names. I faced him against Celtic and Sweden and he was a player to fear, he was very special.”
Chris Sutton
“I liked Shearer a lot, obviously he was brilliant, but Henrik Larsson (was my favourite strike partner). Towards the latter stages of my career, he was a brilliant all-round footballer.
“He could do everything – finish, link up, really unselfish. I enjoyed that partnership more.”
Xavi
“From the first day I saw him in training, the way he moved and the way he was in the box, I knew he was going to be a really good player for us.
“The impact he had on the team was so important. In the final of the Champions League he made the assists for the goals that helped us win the trophy.
“He was so important for us and he was loved by the supporters and his team-mates.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
“Henrik was good enough to play for any team in Europe. But after playing at Celtic Park it is easy to understand why he chose to stay there for so long.”
Again, I'm a massive fan of Cavani's and was one of the few posters on here who had zero doubt's about his signing for us. I just think to say he is way better than Larsson is a bit disrespectful as Larsson is also one of the true greats of the game.
