Henry reveals favourite Highbury memory as Liverpool goal
Thierry Henry rates his iconic goal for Arsenal against Liverpool as his favourite Highbury memory.
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Henry scored a couple of goals here and there during eight years at Arsenal, including a handful at the club’s former home.
But his favourite of all is the third – his second of a hat-trick – in a 4-2 win over Liverpool in April 2004.
“When you look at that goal, I don’t know,” he told Jamie Redknapp and Sky Sports.
“Nothing does make sense. When you look at it, why am I there with Gilberto Silva? Why am I there? I don’t even know. I’d have to review the thing.
“All I know is that when I had the ball, I saw the goal. That stadium had a heart and it wasn’t beating; Michael Owen scored before half-time. The heart wasn’t going.
“I can relive the heart of that stadium through that goal, when I felt it going again. It went back beating again. When I watch my goals, I never really get goose bumps, but with that one even watching it now, I do get goose bumps.
“It’s difficult to beat the Liverpool one, because I always thought that stadium had a heart. You must have felt that with Anfield, that there’s something happening.
“That day I got the confirmation that that stadium had a heart. That goal made the stadium go again and breathe. I’m not trying to be over the top but that day, I was like, ‘yes, that’s what I thought’.”
Henry also noted that “people forget” one thing about the Invincibles during that time, with the Liverpool game coming in the middle of a difficult run of congested fixtures.
The Frenchman was also asked about his sensational strike against Manchester United in a 1-0 win in October 2000.
“It’s kind of weird because…listen, I tried that in training. I used to try stuff and when it wasn’t working they used to say, ‘what the f*** was that?’,” he said.
“I always had people calling me cocky at times, calling me arrogant. I knew I could score goals and did stuff like that in training to know I could do it in the game.
“It was so weird because I was behind Denis Irwin and it’s something I always used to work on, I always used to put myself into the offside position because it is the most difficult thing for the defender. He didn’t know if I was going to come from the right or the left but by the time he sees me, it’s too late and because the frame of my body is big, if you look at it, he’s bending to see where the ball is.
“Then, I felt like chipping it and following the ball but the most difficult skill in that goal was when I flicked it, the ball went a bit away so if I smashed it the way I was, that ball would have gone onto Holloway Road. But I knew I just had to cushion it a bit and make sure it was going to float over and the ball went in.
“That’s the beauty of the game, you have to try stuff and entertain people and luckily enough, the ball went in. I scored more difficult goals than that but it wasn’t against Manchester United or in a 1-0 win.”
Henry went on to goad Redknapp over his hapless defending in the November 2002 north London derby, with the Arsenal forward opening the scoring in a 3-0 home win.
“It’s kind of funny, this goal. It’s a funny one because people gave you stick because the referee ran past you!” he said.
“When I started to run…on the Wednesday that week we played PSV at home, and I made a way better run than the Tottenham one, but at the end, because of the way I am, I gave it Freddie Ljungberg.
“So this time I was like, ‘today I am going alone’. So I took on one defender, then the second one, then I saw Dennis [Bergkamp]. And I like to play the game the right way, so I had to score that one. When you score, you’re right. When you miss you’re wrong.
“I was thinking about the one I gave to Freddie. It worked out. It was against Tottenham. The rest was history.”
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