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Henry bolsters legacy with winner against Leeds

Comment: 0 January 10th, 2012 by: admin

Thierry Henry keyed Arsenal’s 1-0 win in the FA Cup against Leeds United on Monday. Playing for the Gunners for the first time since he was sold to Barcelona in 2007, he scored his 227^th career goal – to the delight of the home crowd at the Emirates Stadium.

It only took Henry 10 minutes to remind people that he can still score goals. Coming on as a substitute on the 68^th, Leeds clearly tried to always mark the Frenchman as he became an apparent threat. He constantly came forward and stayed on the left side of the box, while his teammates tried ways to feed him the ball.

It all came to fruition in the 78^th when Arsenal found themselves on the attack. Midfielder Alex Song was able to spot the 34-year-old striker on the left side of the box and perfectly pitched a through-ball that went past four Leeds defenders. When he had the possession, Henry was clinical. He only had one touch with his right foot and then put it to the far right – past the outstretched arms of Leeds goalkeeper Andrew Lonergan.

The victory pushed the Gunners to the next round of the Cup for a battle against Aston Villa.

“It was a dream, a story you’d tell a young kid,” Wenger stated after the match. “He’s done it all. You could see straight away that he had a presence on the pitch and, if we could find him, he’d be dangerous.”

Leeds manager Simon Grayson claimed that Henry’s presence and performance in the game was “written in the stars”.

Because of his presence and the decisive goal, Henry walked away with the man-of-the-match honours.

When asked about how he felt, he explained: “When I came back from holiday in Mexico, 15 days ago, I never thought I’d play for Arsenal again, let alone score the winner. I don’t know what to say, to be honest. The feeling I had when I scored was amazing.”

After a fairy tale start, Arsenal’s next fixture will be on the 15^th with a Premier League battle against Swansea City at Liberty Stadium. After a week, Henry will be with the Gunners as they host long-time rivals Manchester United.

If no further negotiations happen then Henry’s two-month loan from the New York Red Bulls will expire somewhere in the first week of February.

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