'I saw Thierry Henry embarrass a player so much he had to leave training'
Thierry Henry swapped his boots for the dugout in 2016, joining Roberto Martinez's Belgium national team set-up, but the Frenchman retained the skills that made him a superstar
by Ben Crawford · The MirrorThierry Henry was no stranger to embarrassing defenders during his playing career, and it seemingly continued into the dugout.
World Cup-winning Frenchman Henry, a legend at Arsenal and a Champions League winner with Barcelona, called time on his acclaimed career in 2014, immediately taking to both coaching and punditry.
The former took to the forefront in August 2016, when Henry took up the role of assistant coach with the Belgian national team, alongside ex-Everton, Swansea and Wigan boss Roberto Martinez. Though he has taken various job since, one memory of his time with the Red Devils stands out for ex-Manchester United and Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku.
In a 2020 video call on Puma’s Instagram page, Henry dialled in alongside Lukaku, and the two reminisced about a piece of skill produced by the iconic French forward.
"I think, in the national team when you were there, I think for us, the strikers, we had maybe the best time we could have ever had because the competition was there," Lukaku told Henry on the call.
"Everyone played at a high level, thanks to you. We constantly wanted to do better, outdo each other. And even you were joining in the competition! That was the funny part. You may have been retired, but it was not visible at times."
Henry chose to call it quits whilst playing for New York Red Bulls and did so just a few months after providing a goal and three assists in a 4-1 win of Columbus Crew – becoming the club’s all-time record assist leader.
"I remember when my brother came, and he was like, 'you did this skill in training', but I'm not going to say any names, but the player left the pitch," Lukaku added, followed swiftly by a, "No, don't," by Henry.
Lukaku carried on: "Jordan [his brother and team-mate] came to me and he said, 'Rom! I've seen some s*** today! Damn!' He was like, 'Damn man, that s*** was crazy!'"
After leaving the national team in 2018, Henry left for an unsuccessful spell at his former club, AS Monaco, before joining Montreal Impact in Canada. He would then return to Lukaku and the Belgium national set-up, during which time they suffered a group stage exit at the Qatar World Cup.
Henry then coached the French U21 side and took charge of their Olympic team at Paris 2024, guiding them to a silver medal. He is now without a coaching role once more, choosing instead to focus on punditry with American outlet CBS.
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