7 defenders on failing to stop Celtic legend Henrik Larsson

This week - March 21 to be exact - is the anniversary of Henrik Larsson's historic brace against Hibernian at Easter Road.

The two goals meant he moved into third place in the club's all-time top scorers list behind Jimmy McGrory and Bobby Lennox.

To mark the date, we’ve decided to reproduce one of our best works on the great man.

Here, TCW's Tony Haggerty speaks to seven defenders the super Swede tormented while at Parkhead...

Allan Preston (St Johnstone)

I was always taught to defend through the man – ‘see the ball, see the man’ that kind of thing. As soon as the ball moved you had to check where it was and when you went back to your position Henrik wasn’t there.

He was amazing at getting in between two defenders and causing confusion. He genuinely was impossible to man-mark – and he did the defending and dirty side of the game as well.

Stephen Craigan (Motherwell)

You get many strikers who speak to you to try to wind you up and involve you in gamesmanship. Some kick you and some argue with you.

Henrik wasn’t like that at all. He never said a word but I was more intimidated by Larsson than any other striker in Scottish football. You had no idea what he was going to do.

The timing of his movement was excellent and he used to allow defenders to look towards the ball. The minute you looked to see where the cross was coming from, Larsson would disappear. Honestly, you’d swear he’d vanished into thin air. If you switched off you paid a heavy price for it.

Steven Pressley (Hearts)

I had a few moments with Henrik on the park in terms of verbal spats. I did not show Henrik respect when I played against him – which he probably didn’t like. We had a few issues with each other at times but he was a player that I actually  had the utmost respect for.

Henrik was tough though and not intimidated by anybody dishing out physical contact. He could handle himself.

He always played on your blind spot. If you didn’t go back towards the blind spot he remained there, if you did go back he would move towards it and shoot across you. It was typical Larsson.

Jim Lauchlan (Kilmarnock & Dundee United)

He was an all-round team player. His work rate was phenomenal. Whenever I took the ball from the goalkeeper, Henrik pressed me high up the park. He would not let you build from the back.

Larsson was the best I ever played against. He scored an unbelievable header against Dundee United in the 2001 Scottish Cup semi-final; a diving header that defied both logic and gravity.

I came in at full-time and Alex Smith put his arm around my shoulder and said to me: "Sometimes you just have to doff your cap to a football genius.”

Dave Mackay (Dundee)

He wasn’t the kind of player who would be involved in the play constantly; Henrik never picked the ball up and beat three players and stuck it away. But you just knew that any sniff he had in and around the box, he would score.

For 90 minutes your own concentration had to be at the absolute peak. He preyed on mistakes or moments of weakness. Players of his calibre were always two steps ahead of Scottish defences.

Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and admit Larsson was too good for everybody in Scotland – defenders felt pretty powerless against him.

Lee Bullen (Dunfermline)

There was a real intelligence and subtlety about his play. He played on the cusp of offside but at the right time he would step onside and exploit the gaps.

He was never flustered or pressured in front of goal. He was a clinical technician as well as one of the bravest footballers I have ever come across. He put his head in where it hurt all the time.

I remember one game we played at East End Park and we thought we had Henrik in our back pocket. He hadn’t had a great influence and then all of a sudden: Bang! Bang! Larsson had scored two goals and it was game over. He did that on a regular basis.

Ramon Vega (Celtic)

I remember the first week I joined Celtic he was my direct opponent in training. I went flying into tackles to put him up the air. There was screaming, as you can imagine, and I got told off as this was the star man.

Larsson didn’t want me to ease off though. Even in training, he wanted to replicate game situations – he told me to keep doing what I was doing as it kept him sharp and focused at all times.

He also never shouted at all. When strikers are loud that helps you as a defender as you can anticipate what they are going to do from their shouts.

Henrik was the complete opposite, he was a quiet assassin. Those are the worst strikers to play against – they don’t say, they just do. He preyed on every defensive weakness you exhibited. If you switched off, Henrik switched on.