One
Turning over Larson's resume, it is not difficult to find that the reason why a player can be called a legend is inseparable from his persistent spirit.
Born in Helsingborg, Larson is a mixed-race child with a Swedish mother and a father from Cape Verde. At the age when Xiao Hecai showed sharp horns, Larson not only showed the physical characteristics of a mixed-race child, but also showed a strong interest in football. At the age of five, he finally began to train in football as he wished, and over the next 12 years he gradually made the transition from amateur to professional, making his professional debut in the professional league at Hogaborg in the C division. After another 5 years, Larsson completed the trek from the C to the first division, and he helped himself to the Helsingborg team, which was only in the Swedish second division at the beginning, and successfully broke into the first division, and at that time, Larsson scored 10 goals.
After that, he began to make great strides towards the peak of his career. In 1993 , in his first First Division season , Larson finished third on the top scorers list with 16 goals. The rising star of a new star could not be obscured, and the door of the Swedish national team was opened to it for the first time, and in the World Cup qualifiers that followed for the national team, Larson seized the opportunity to score a goal to help Sweden beat Finland 3-2.
In the autumn of 1993, the well-fledged Larson decided to leave his hometown and venture out into the outside world, and his first station was Feyenoord in the Netherlands. However, in a country full of tulips, everything is not as good as he imagined, and in the first year of the Netherlands he made 15 appearances and scored only one goal.
Rarely, the shy Larson was not frustrated by this, he looked for deficiencies in time, and began to improve in the following 94-95 season, and the goal rate climbed sharply. His fatal final-minute blow of the season, while not enough to help the Rotterdam side win the Eredivisie title, helped Feyenoord to a back-to-back finish in the Dutch Cup.
Two
Time flies, the time in the Netherlands is four years, but now looking back, those four years are definitely not a golden season for Larsson, and its only shining point is in the 94 World Cup in the United States, where his goal into Bulgaria made him famous, but in addition, Larson's career at the club has always been flat, and the season in the Netherlands is at best a transitional period in his growth.
So in 1997, Larson packed his bags and signed with Scotland's legendary club Celtics. This time, it turned out, the Swedes were making a wise decision. He got off to an excellent start, scoring 16 goals in his first season in Glasgow to help the White and Greens win their first league title in nearly a decade. The following 1998, everything went well for the Swedes, who were elected Scottish Footballer of the Year in his second season with the team after scoring 38 goals for the Celtics.
The colorful sunshine of life seems to illuminate the young football world of the Swedes at once, but just when the young Larson is full of ambition and yearning for new glory, a disaster suddenly comes. That year was 1999, and Larsson's left leg was fractured due to a brutal kick by Lyon defenders in the League Cup, which left him with almost a season off at the Celtics, and his career also faced unprecedented challenges. Thankfully, bad injuries didn't break the tough guy who grew up with football as the highest ideal of his life, and just seven months later he made a surprising comeback.
The loss and recovery often make people know how to cherish it more, especially for Larson, who "survived the disaster". The first thing he did after his recovery was to extend his four-year contract with the Celtics, and he wanted to repay the love and support he received here with practical actions. In January 2001, Larson scored his 100th goal at the club. In the 00-01 Scottish Premier League, he scored 35 goals, an extraordinary record that added weight to his European Golden Boot award.
The ensuing World Cup in 2002 became the best stage for him to show his talents, and in the qualifiers of that World Cup, Larson scored 8 goals to help the team win the top spot in the group. In the main game, Larson scored another 3 goals. In the knockout round against Senegal, although Larson helped the team open the record, the team was late in extra time and was scored a golden ball by Kamara, regrettably stopping in the round of sixteen.
If you didn't watch the ball at the time, it's hard to understand Larson's place in the hearts of Soviet Premier League fans, who are the pride of the Celtics, who have scored more than 200 goals in the Premier League in their entire five seasons with the team. Of particular importance is the reason why the Celtics overwhelmed the Rangers in the league at that time, Larson was the most successful. In addition, the Celtics have always dominated only the land of Scotland, but with the joint efforts of a group of stars represented by Larson, this situation has changed a lot.
In the 2002-03 League Cup, they reached the final after eliminating strong teams such as Celta, Stuttgart and Liverpool. In the final, Larson scored two brilliant goals, but the Celtics lost 2-3 to Porto and finished second. But at the same time he also set an important record: he became the player who scored the most goals in Europe of all the Teams in the Isles at that time.
His outstanding performances made him one of the most beloved stars in the history of the Swedish team and was voted the best footballer for the national team in half a century. Originally, in addition to Larsson, the other 8 players, including Brolin, were also listed by the Swedish Football Association in the list of players to be selected, but in the end it was Larsson who won. In this way, Larson participated in the celebration of UEFA's 50th anniversary as a "golden player".
Three
After the 2002 World Cup, Larson decided to quit the national team and play for the club, but the pressure from the Swedish media and fans was eager for him to return to the national team, and his son Jordan finally helped him make a decision to obey the public opinion and put back on the yellow and blue shirt of the national team. In the 5-0 win over Bulgaria, Larson won two yuan alone, and the header scored was stretched and gorgeous.
In the summer of 2004, Larson moved to Barcelona, and although he was no longer the number one arrow in the team, he could still provide a steady output for the team on the bench. In the Champions League final in 2006, Larson assisted his teammates twice in the second half 75 and 81 minutes, helping Barca to reverse the defeat of Arsenal, lifting the European championship trophy for the second time in team history, and Larson was considered a key figure to change the course of the game.
Immediately after that, he competed in the World Cup in Germany. In the group against England, it was his 88-minute goal that helped the team continue its impressive record of unbeaten against England for 38 years. However, the missed penalty in the quarter-finals against Germany made Larsson say goodbye to the World Cup with deep regret.
After the 2006 World Cup, Larson moved freely to Helsingborg, Sweden. In late 2006, United, plagued by injuries in the forward line, decided to loan Larson for two months. With 13 games, 69 days, 3 goals, 1 each in the league, FA Cup and Champions League, Larson's second leg of the British road can be described as a success.
It is worth mentioning that he once turned down an invitation from Old Trafford, which was still in the 98-99 season. Manchester United, who won the treble at the time, was proud of the spring wind throughout Europe, and the elder Ferguson was interested in buying Larson after selling York, but the proud Swede declared: "Manchester United is indeed a very attractive team." But unfortunately, I'm not interested in that. ”
In the summer of 2008, the 37-year-old Larsson participated in the European Championship with Sweden, but did not score, and Sweden also lost two consecutive games in the first game, and was eliminated in the group stage.
On 20 October 2009, Sweden's Helsingborg club officially announced that former European Golden Boot winner and former Swedish national team famous goalscorer Larsson would officially retire at the end of the season.
Don't urge the years, I don't push when you should come; you don't urge the years, and those who go far still have to chase. From blonde to bald assassin, Larson has passed 13 years in the blink of an eye, but his heroism on the field and his immortal contribution to the revival of the Celtics and Sweden are still talked about.