Nobody can doubt Henry’s passion
After enduring such a defeat as Arsenal’s on Wednesday night, most players would be forgiven for being terse and reticent.
Henry, by contrast, had to almost be dragged onto the coach to the airport, such was the Arsenal skipper’s desire to praise his players, vilify the final referee Terje Hauge and even disparage many of his Barcelona opponents.
In fact, Henry, perhaps the greatest player in Arsenal’s long history, did nothing to support rumours that he is set to move to the Catalan city, beyond his insistence that he would announce his intentions before the World Cup finals which begin on June 9.
He said: “I will make the decision before the World Cup, very soon.” Asked if the defeat would affect his future, he replied: “No, no, not at all.”
And there was no mistaking his pride at being captain of a side that showed such will-power after being forced to play with 10 men for more than an hour against arguably the best team in the world.
He added: “People have said in the past that Arsenal drop when it is a tough game but my team deserved to leave the stadium with their head up and to be proud.
“I said to the lads in the dressing room afterwards, put your head up, you have nothing to be ashamed of.
“I know the fans will all be disappointed but I think they can all be proud of us. Usually I’m a winner and I don’t like to lose, but what we gave was more than them in terms of heart and everything else. We fought hard and they had the luck.”
Such was Henry’s wish to lift players, club officials and supporters that he even addressed them over the intercom on the team’s flight back from Paris.
He said: “We must pick ourselves up and make sure we come back stronger next year.”
That stopped short of an announcement of intent, but there can be little doubt that there remain reasons why he may decide to stay at Arsenal even if, in purely careerist terms, the Frenchman might be better off with a new challenge.
Certainly, Henry’s team-mates want him to stay, though to a man they will not put any pressure on him.
Cesc Fabregas said: “Of course, he’s a great player, our captain, and we want him to stay. But it’s his decision and I cannot do anything.”
Ashley Cole, as coy about his own future with Arsenal, added: “Of course we’re going to miss him if he goes, but we can still be challengers without him.”
Keeper Manuel Almunia, called upon when Jens Lehmann was red-carded early in the match, said: “I want Thierry to stay next season like everyone in the Arsenal team. Personally I don’t know anything about what he’s going to decide. He doesn’t like everyone talking about his future.”
For those trying to divine Henry’s intentions by watching his reaction after the final, there were mixed messages. He spent some time congratulating his opponents and chatting to fellow Frenchman Ludovic Giuly, yet he was hardly complimentary about players who could yet become team-mates.
He “didn’t see” Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o, while he berated Rafael Marquez for his dirty play.
“I see a lot of Barcelona players doing whatever they want in the Spanish league, but I didn’t see that in this match,” said Henry.
“Sometimes a lot of commentators are giving plaudits to people that shouldn’t have that.
“If it wasn’t for Henrik Larsson they wouldn’t have done it.
“I don’t want to start any argument but in the first half I took two kicks from Marquez – maybe my way of being in the Premiership and not going down didn’t help.
“Maybe if I had rolled down and cried, maybe they would have had a yellow card and defended in a different way.
“What was even more funny is the tackle I made in front of the bench.
“I’ve seen it on TV, I’ve got the ball, Mark van Bommel kicked me and I get booked.
“So many times Puyol should have got a yellow card, so many times Marquez came from behind to take my ankles.
“Larsson was the difference – I didn’t see Ronaldinho and I didn’t see Eto’o.”
Exhaustion cost Arsenal eventually, and it was tiredness that Henry said stopped him putting the Gunners 2-0 up after being put through by Alexander Hleb. “It was a great ball but I went down like a bag of dirty clothes. I had nothing at all any more, I was dead,” he said.
“I have never finished a game so empty. I feel really, really, really tired,” he said.
The bookies have Henry at odds-on to be at Barcelona next season, and Arsene Wenger faces a tough task to persuade his talisman to stay.
Asked if he thought Henry would leave, Wenger said: “I don’t know. I don’t think so.
“There’s not long to wait now and I will try to talk to him because we have to prepare for next season.
“We have many young players. We have a big future as a big team but we need Thierry Henry to achieve that.
“He has such an influence on our side and can help us become a major force in the world.”
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