Greek trip stirs up bad memories for Henry

WHEN Thierry Henry steps into the Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium in Athens tonight, he is unlikely to be misty-eyed about the last time he faced Panathinaikos in September 2001.

It probably rates as his least distinguished moment as an Arsenal player. Not only did Arsenal go down 1-0, but Henry lost his cool to the extent that match reports at the time refer to him as “stomping around the pitch like a raging bull for a full two minutes, roaring at rival players, the referee and even a Greek policeman who tried to intervene”.

To this day, the man who played a large part in bringing it about, Jan Michaelsen, claims to be mystified as to why he bore the brunt of Henry’s wrath.

“He just came after me, face to face, and I was trying to get out of his way,” said the Dane.

“Why he came after me I don’t know. And even when we went as a team to applaud our fans I looked round and he was still there!

“I couldn’t believe it. I just said, ‘Why don’t you f*** off to your dressing room - the game is over. You lost. Accept it’.

“It was childish. I was very disappointed in him that night.

“Don’t get me wrong - I think he is a tremendous striker, probably the best in the world. And since then, when I have watched him, he has gone up another level.

“But that night, I think he got frustrated, as did the rest of the Arsenal team, because they had just lost a game everyone expected them to win.

“Henry did not have a good game that night and neither did the rest of the team. When results go against them, they have to blame someone and Henry blamed me.”

Michaelsen now plays with Norwegian club Ham-Kam, but he still recalls the outburst by Henry, who was furious with what he saw as blatant diving by the Greek side’s players, Michaelsen in particular.

“Arsenal were complaining for much of the game that our players were falling over too easily.

“And it didn’t stop with Henry. Even Arsene Wenger had a comment for me afterwards: ‘Expect it to be very hot for you in London’.”