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Retired Mjallby talks about Celtic

Last updated : 19 May 2006 By GWG/JK
Former Celtic hero and Swedish Internationalist Mjallby has been talking about his time at Celtic and it seems that the power of the tim had rubbed off on the big guy, " Once you run out in a night time champions league match at Celtic park you realise that you cannot get any better" says the ex Celt " I once saw a Barcelona player being sick with nerves as the champions league music played and the noise went up from the crowd and he later told me his legs had turned to jelly" Mjallby has been out of the game for almost a year due to long term injuries. He had made a comeback and signed again for AIK, but due to his injuries has been forced to quit football.

Mjallby was signed by manager Dr Jozef Venglos in November 1998 for a fee of 1.2 million pounds and made his debut in the famous 5-1 trouncing of Rangers at Celtic park,
As a central defender Mjallby grew into a role which made him popular with the Celtic faithful, when John Barnes took control as manager in 1999/2000 Johan was moved to his midfield role in
the Barnes ill-fated experimental 4-2-2-2 formation which saw the end of the Barnes/Dalglish Partnership. The Martin O'Neill era saw Johan being the mainstay of a Celtic 3 man defence that dominated Scottish football and he picked up another three
medals for the domestic treble to add to his League Cup medal from the win over Aberdeen in 1999.
He experienced Champions League football with Celtic playing against Porto, Juventus, and Roseenborg, and was instrumental in getting Celtic to the UEFA Cup Final in 2003, his last season with Celtic saw him struggle with injuries and turn down
a 1 year deal and move to Spain to play for newly promoted Levante but injuries soon ended his term there
Throughout his 6 years at Celtic he collected 3 league winning medals, 2 League Cup medals, 2 Scottish Cup Winning medals, as well as 2 Scottish Cup, 1 League Cup,
and of course the UEFA Cup runners up medals. He also Captained Sweden in the 2002 World Cup in Japan..