Last weekend Celtic TV re-ran one of the most important games and moments in Celtic’s rich history, the day the Hoops stopped the ten. Back in 1998 Celtic were on the wrong side of 9-in-a-row as star-studded Gers teams ran away with league titles.
It all came down to the last day of the season and a 2-0 win against St Johnstone created a famous and memorable day at Celtic Park. It was a young Henrik Larsson along with Harald Brattbakk who scored the goals to secure the win.
The game was far from comfortable viewing at just 1-0 and it took substitute Brattbakk to send the Celtic fans into party mode. The former striker might not have had the best of times in Glasgow but on this day he was a hero. With the game shown only last week, it has sparked off so many good memories but even more importantly an appreciation as to the club’s achievements in the last twenty years.
Bratbakk who is now an airline pilot has no doubts about who the best striker he ever played alongside is and here is what he told Celtic TV about the King of Kings:
“Is Henrik one of the best strikers I’ve ever played with? Definitely,” said Brattbakk on the latest instalment of the Celtic View podcast. “I regard him as the best striker that I’ve ever played with. He was never the biggest or fastest player I played with, but you would look at him and see a very clever player. He made his runs so cleverly, he was smart in tackles and tactically he was very good.”
“What sets some players apart from others, most of all is how consistently good they are at what they’re doing. Henrik was definitely one of those players. He delivered at the highest level in Europe for 10 years. You cannot compete or argue with that.”
The lockdown has allowed us fans to sit back and take stock of how far our football club has come this century as we sit on one of the biggest record-breaking trophy hauls in the club’s history. Long may it continue.
