Henry finds the perfect riposte

Thierry Henry insists France’s win over Spain was the perfect answer to Luis Aragones.

The Spanish coach, who described the striker as a “black ****” in a remark to his Arsenal team-mate Jose Antonio Reyes two years ago, has never apologised for the comment.

Following France’s 3-1 victory in Hanover last night, Henry said: “A lot of people were speculating about Aragones and I don’t want to talk about it because there is no point. But the best answer was the win.”

After his remark, Aragones was fined by the Spanish FA – who were criticised at the time by Henry for their leniency – and the Arsenal captain was also less than impressed with Spanish fans booing and whistling during the French national anthem.

He added: “I think you should respect the national anthem of another country. They do whatever they want to do. But I thought it was a bit below par. Everybody found that a great shame.”

France’s struggle for goals in the group stage led to many critics writing off their chances, but Franck Ribery, Patrick Vieira and Zinedine Zidane all scored to beat much-fancied Spain.

Henry, 28, said: “We got a lot of stick for not scoring in the group stage. What I would say is that we just grew up in the tournament. I’m not saying we are going to win it.

“Zinedine also got a lot of criticism and it was good that he scored the third goal.”

France could potentially meet England in the semi-finals. Les Bleus face Brazil in the quarter-finals.