Henrik Larsson has told how he feared he would lose the power to score goals when he cut off his trademark dreadlocks.
The Celtic great also revealed his young son Jordan – now a Sweden international – was so shocked by his new cropped look he begged him to put his “hair back on”.
Larsson, 54, became one of Scottish football’s greatest ever stars during seven seasons with Celtic from 1997 to 2004.
View 3 ImagesCeltic striker Henrik Larsson arrives back in Glasgow nursing a bruised eye after reports of a training ground incident with Tosh McKinlay.
Signed by the late Wim Jansen from Dutch club Feyenoord, the Swedish striker was instantly recognisable by his iconic dreadlocks. It became a national talking point when he had them chopped off before a game against Aberdeen on October 1, 2000.
Larsson headed a late equaliser to salvage a 1-1 draw – and celebrated by pointing with both hands to his newly cropped hairstyle.
But speaking on BBC Scotland documentary Icons of Football, he admits he had feared that – like the Biblical figure Samson who lost his strength when his hair was cut off – he would lose his “power”.
He said: “I’d just turned 30 so I felt it’s time to say goodbye to the dreads.
“Nobody knew, not even my wife. Then I came home and Jordan said ‘daddy, daddy, put your hair back on again’.
“But I had in the back of my mind, if I cut the hair off is the power going to go?
“At Aberdeen I can’t remember the goal but it was a good thing that it came straight after I cut my hair.”
View 3 Images(Image: Press Association)
Icons of Football follows Larsson’s career from his time at local club Högaborg, when he worked part-time packing fruit and veg in a warehouse, to winning the Champions League with Barcelona and starring for Manchester United and in three World Cups for Sweden.
But he said his seven seasons in Glasgow made him the player he was.
Larsson, who modelled his game on Brazil legend Pele as a child, won eight major honours with Celtic and set numerous goal-scoring records.
His opening goal against St Johnstone on the final day of the 1997/98 season helped stop rivals Rangers winning 10 in a row and ended their dominance of Scottish football.
With 242 goals in 313 games, he earned the nickname “King of Kings” from the Celtic fans.
He revealed he still cries when he recalls his decision to leave the club and his tearful farewell in front of a packed Parkhead. He said: “That’s where I made the player everybody still talks about. I don’t have words for what it means”
Larsson left Celtic for Barcelona in 2004 and played a pivotal role in helping the Catalans win the Champions League final against Arsenal in 2006.
But he revealed he still struggles to talk about losing the UEFA Cup final in 2003 – in which he scored Celtic’s two goals in a 3-2 extra time defeat to Porto – amid a sea of Celtic fans in Seville.
He said: “It still hurts me because I felt we had a chance to win that game. Our supporters deserved something better that day.”
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* Icons of Football – Henrik Larsson is available on BBC iPlayer.
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