Henrik Larsson named most popular no.7 in British football as Celtic legend upstages Cristiano Ronaldo

Celtic legend Henrik Larsson has been named British football's most popular number 7, beating Liverpool idol Kevin Keegan and Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to the top spot.
Celtic legend Henrik Larsson is British football's most popular no.7Celtic legend Henrik Larsson is British football's most popular no.7
Celtic legend Henrik Larsson is British football's most popular no.7

The super Swede wore the iconic jersey across seven seasons at Celtic Park after joining the club in 1997. He went on to score 242 goals in 315 matches for the Hoops to earn hero status among their fans.

Now more than 17 years after his Parkhead departure, Larsson remains the most popular player in Britain to wear the no.7 shirt in recent times, according to analysis from sports platform OLBG.

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They analysed tens of thousands of posts on social media, looking at volume, interactions and text sentiment analysis, and Larsson came out on top ahead of 70s superstar Keegan, who came second.

Ronaldo, now the outright highest international goalscorer of all-time after a brace in a 2-1 victory of the Republic of Ireland at Estadio Algarve, completes the top three, with the 36-year-old set to reclaim his famous no.7 shirt following his stunning return to Manchester United.

Uruguayan Luis Suarez and Bastian Schweinsteiger make up an eclectic top five in a group of players including the likes of Raul, David Beckham, Luis Figo and Robert Pires.

The Celtic number 7 shirt comes with a certain amount of baggage having been worn by icons such as Kenny Dalglish, Jimmy Johnstone, Robbie Keane and Paolo Di Canio, and most recently by fan favourite Patrick Roberts.

New Celtic signing Giorgos Giakoumakis is the latest to claim the jersey following his £2.3m move from Dutch side VVV Venlo on transfer deadline day.

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