I've tried to talk Larsson out of quitting - Hedman

Celtic star Magnus Hedman has revealed he has unsuccessfully tried to persuade Henrik Larsson out of international retirement on more than one occasion.

He believes his team-mate’s decision to quit the Swedish national team after the World Cup has contributed to their shaky European Championship qualifying campaign.

But the goalkeeper’s efforts to bring about a change of heart have fallen on deaf ears and he concedes that only a striking emergency could persuade him to rethink his decision.

“I’ve tried to talk him round more than once,” admitted Hedman. “But he is a man of principles and I respect him for that.

“Maybe if Sweden ended up in a striker crisis he could help us – hopefully he would.

“Sweden’s change in fortunes has come because of his (Larsson) decision to retire from international football plus if you look at teams that come from a big tournament like the World Cup and go into the next qualifiers it is always a bit of a struggle.

“We thought we got over the Latvia game and then we had the Hungary game. We drew 0-0 in Latvia and then we drew 1-1 at home to Hungary which is not a good start at all.”

Hedman has also recently seen third-choice Jonathan Gould quit Celtic for Preston North End to leave just him and Robert Douglas as the club’s remaining senior goalkeepers.

But the former Coventry City favourite believes that youngster David Marshall could save manager Martin O’Neill money on signing another experienced replacement.

“It’s a bit harder for me with no other keepers around,” Hedman added. “It is nice to get back and get the fitness levels back. It’s a matter of being a bit cautious as well.

“We’ve got a testimonial game coming up against Feyenoord and a lot of training before the season starts again.

“But they have got to be sensible and not overload me with work because I would get absolutely knackered and get injured again. But Terry Gennoe (goalkeeping coach) is very good.

“I don’t know what will happen. It’s up to the manager if he wants to go out and bring in a replacement for Jonathan Gould.

“But young David Marshall has been training with us and has done extremely well when he’s been with us.

“He’s mentally prepared for anything and is raring to go and maybe we could give him a good shot at it.”

Hedman recently returned to the Celtic side after a miserable time with injuries – but he admitted he looked “stupid” against Aberdeen just before the winter break.

He failed to come to claim a corner which Russell Anderson converted at Pittodrie as the champions slipped three points behind Scottish Premier League leaders Rangers.

But in the sunshine of Florida he has hit back at those who pointed the finger at him and blamed the freak weather conditions for that embarrassing and forgettable moment.

Hedman reflected: “I’m always going to be honest and this particular time I would do exactly the same again.

“The ball was coming straight for my hands and all of a sudden it just dropped. It did exactly the same in the warm-up as well with the wind.

“It makes you look stupid. Terry Gennoe has been watching it on video and he says he would like to see me do the same again.

“Some things you just can’t plan for. The ball is going up in the air and all of a sudden it just drops. That’s why I should have stuck to ice hockey because it’s indoors.

“I’m happy to accept responsibility if I make a mistake and sometimes things just don’t go your way.

“On another day that ball would have kept going as I thought it would have done. Some things you can’t rule over and this was one of them.

“I was happy to accept responsibility and the only thing I can say is that it doesn’t get me down or anything.

“It makes me work harder on the training field and more determined to do a better job the next game and the next game.

“I make mistakes and we all make mistakes in the future, but you have to limit them to as few as possible.”