Thierry Henry

How do you feel about the Arsenal vs Barcelona clash?

It’s a rather awkward situation because two clubs in which I played will face each other. People know Arsenal is in my heart but Barça has a part of it as well. What I lived there was amazing.

You must support Arsenal a bit more.

Yes, yes. It’s the normal thing to do. I played eight years there and I have a relationship with the fans and the club. But I also feel part of Barça because of what I lived, what we achieved, the six titles and what I learned. Until you’re there you don’t understand what ‘més que un club’ means. Barça is out of this world. That’s why it’s difficult for me watching the two teams I love face each other.

What led you to Arsenal and what led you to Barcelona?

I’m from a different generation from the current one. Now there’s a lot of footballers who consider money before the name of the club. They say things like: “Let me take a look at the contract and I’ll tell if I like your team.” I signed for Arsenal because I wanted to. Afterward, I’m not going to lie, I spoke about money, of course. But I wanted to go to Arsenal. The money wouldn’t have changed my mind. First you win titles and then you go to the president’s office for your requests. When I went to Barça, it was because I wanted to. It was my decision. The same way I always knew since I was six years old that I’d play in New York. Barça is Barça. It meant the Dream Team, the jersey, Cruyff, the Camp Nou, Maradona, everything I grew up in...Wembley, Koeman, the game philosophy, the style…

And in Barça you experienced everything.

Everything, everything, everything. The first year was very tough. People won’t let you relax with the latest win. No way. In the treble season, you were winning 4-0 or 5-0 and you failed a pass or didn’t score in a one-on-one and the fans would let you know. They demand to win and win again. And to win in a good way. And if there’s any brilliant play, much better. You can win one or two matches by 1-0 but three...There’s another reason why it is more than a club. In other teams, you can spend a whole month winning by 1-0 and nobody says anything. In Barça that is unthinkable.

You were also part of a great period in Arsenal, the best one.

It was a different style of playing. In Barça, I went through what David Villa experienced: from being the central forward to move, all of a sudden, to the band. We knew where we were going. I must say I enjoyed a lot in the club. You couldn’t tell that because I’m not a very expressive person and I was rather reserved but I say it again: I enjoyed a lot. Sometimes, when the referee blew the final whistle, I thought: “Already?” I said to one of them: “Give us 10 added minutes, OK?” What I lived in Barça was insane.

Starting with your first year.

Samuel Eto'o used to tell me when we were bearing that pressure: “Hang on, because when you win there’s no better place than this.” He was right. I stayed after the treble for another season to prepare for the World Cup. And I enjoyed it. The last day I stepped on the pitch I stood there watching and relishing all of that, to remember it forever.

You were part of the first trident version.

The three of them are outstanding. They are at the right time, at the peak of their careers: they have similar ages, they get along together, they’re friends. We weren’t bad, no way. They belong to the same generation. I arrived Barça too late and they have the ideal age.

Messi was eight years younger.

That’s why I’m saying they are at their peak. When I came to Barcelona, I was heading toward the end of my career, Samuel was at his best and Messi was on the raising.

Is this team more focused on the strikers than yours?

People talk more about them because of the level they show. But if they didn’t have an Iniesta to support them, an Alves recovering the balls non-stop, an Alba who can run 42 100-meter races... The three of them are a phenomenon. And let’s not forget about Rakitic who embraced Xavi’s role, and Xavi was Xavi! A year ago there were some doubts because Suárez wasn’t scoring goals but he was already doing some amazing moves, like Eto'o, defending and creating spaces.

The difference about the trident is, definitely, that Neymar is seven years younger than you when you were in Barça?

But he already has scored 100 goals. Two hundred matches with the national team. Has he renewed already? I hope he signs. It’s important that Messi has an heir. They are two geniuses. For example, the penalty situation: we pay to watch different things on the pitch. How this could be disrespectful?!? Being disrespectful would be to nutmeg some opponent, wait for him, nutmeg him again, wait for him and nutmeg him a third time. If he kicks you, you put up with it. But to nutmeg someone and keep running...What we want to see is this geniality, players like Messi, Neymar…

As a football pundit do you also expect this?

Of course. I want to watch footballers who make me feel I must pay to watch them. Everybody would pay to watch Barça play. Even if it were free, people would continue paying.

From above you can see different things of what you saw on the field?

A lot of things. Besides, I’m doing the coach course and I have opened my eyes. When you’re a footballer you talk about yourself with the coach, you worry about your own issues. But the coach arrives at 7 in the morning and leaves at 7 in the afternoon and he has to think about everybody. You prepare a training and one player is absent, you have an extra training jacket, you must reorganize the drill...And he, all by himself, answers before everybody: the president, the player, the press…

All alone facing the danger.

I didn’t realize that when I was a footballer and now I ask myself: Who helps the guy that helps everybody? Who cares about the coach? Who asks the coach how he is, how he feels?

Nobody.

Exactly. No one cares about him. All we ask him is for and about the team, the results and not for his emotions, if he needs anything. I never did it myself. I never went to see my coach and talk to him and know how he was doing.

And are you going to be a coach?

Yes. I don’t know why but I want to be a coach. It’s my sport and I want to contribute something. I always respected my coaches and now I admire them. Simple things like to decide the measurements in a possession game: if it is too small, you don’t get what you’re looking for. If it is too large, you lose intensity and that doesn’t work either.

Would you want a Henry on your squad?

I believe so. Because this attitude means that a player is aware. Like Xavi, who also saw everything. Being a coach is really, really difficult. People ignores the preparation it takes and the pressure there is to win, managing footballers who are kings in their countries. And in Barça it is not easy to bear and deal with all this.

Guardiola will come to the Premier League.

What I loved the most about Pep is that he doesn’t only want to win. He wants to dominate the game. Sometimes it doesn’t work but his attitude, his purpose is to dominate every aspect of the game. He went to the Camp Nou with Bayern, without Ribéry and Robben, and he played the same way he wanted. It’s what I like about him: he always sticks to his beliefs. I think it’s great he’s changing countries. He used to say that two or three years in a team are a lot and it’s true, because of the way he is, very demanding. I stayed because of him, because he had a plan for me.

What plan was that?

He wanted to know if I wished to stay. He warned me that it wouldn’t be easy to change people’s mindset but he wanted me on the squad. He convinced me. I went for my holidays and we know what happened later...During the season he pressured me but that’s what football is about.

Can you play in England the same way Barça or Bayern do?

City is going to play the same way Barça’s Pep or Bayern’s Pep do. If they will win or not, I don’t know but he will want to dominate the game and the possession, I’m confident of that.

https://grup14.com/story/thierry-henry-i-lived-everything-at-barca-it-was-amazing