Lethal Larsson

Swedish striker seeks 200th Celtic goal in final

SEVILLE, Spain (AP) -- Glasgow Celtic's prolific goalscorer Henrik Larsson could score his 200th goal for the Scottish club when he faces FC Porto in the UEFA Cup final on Wednesday.

Larsson has netted 199 in six seasons with Celtic, although the Swede said Monday that he is not desperate to reach a double century.

"It would be nice, but if I don't score that's no problem for me. That goal can come when it comes," Larsson said.

"If you look at the team and how they have been performing this season there have been goals coming from everywhere."

Among a tally of 42 this season, Larsson has scored nine times in nine UEFA Cup appearances. His most recent came in the 1-0 win at Boavista that booked Celtic's ticket to the final, a game he said would be the most important of his career.

"I have come third with Sweden at the World Cup in '94. But playing in the UEFA Cup final, this is the biggest one for me," he said.

Larsson's finest season was in 2000-2001 -- Celtic coach Martin O'Neill's first season in charge -- when he won the Golden Shoe as Europe's top scorer with 53 goals, including 35 in the league.

His marksmanship, after a double leg fracture early in the previous season, propelled Celtic to the Scottish league title and the two domestic cup competitions.

Larsson, who has twice won the Scottish Player of the Year award, will be policed by Porto's uncompromising defender Jorge Costa on Wednesday, although there's no doubting the striker's own toughness.

"Before a game, I always tell myself that it will hurt and that it should hurt. I know I am very strong, that I am stronger than them. Even if it hurts, it is going to hurt them even more," the British newspaper The Observer quoted Larsson as saying on Sunday.

Larsson, whose father was born in Cape Verde, said Wednesday's match was even more important as Celtic is in its first European final since 1970, when it lost to his former club Feyenoord Rotterdam in the Champions Cup. The club's only European triumph came in the same competition three years earlier.

"It's been a long time since we have made it this far in Europe. There will be a lot of eyes on us next week, but that is the sort of pressure you want to be under as a player," Larsson told the UEFA Web site www.uefa.com.

Against Celtic's wishes, the striker has insisted that he will leave Celtic when his contract ends in a year's time and return to Sweden or "move somewhere warmer."

"It would be fantastic to have a UEFA Cup win to look back on. I will do everything I can to help us win it. I feel as fit and sharp as I've ever done."

Larsson made his international debut in the 1994 World Cup, scoring a penalty as Sweden beat Bulgaria 4-0 in the third-place match at Pasadena, California.

The striker, who netted 24 goals in 72 international appearances, announced his retirement from the national side after last year's World Cup, saying he wanted to concentrate on Celtic and his family as well as Scotland's renowned golf courses.

He made a one-off return last month to help Sweden beat Hungary 2-1 in the Euro 2004 qualifier in Budapest.

 

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