Monday night marked the return of arguably the greatest player to have ever played in the Premiership. The eyes of the footballing world were focused solely on the Emirates Stadium as, after nearly 5 years away, Thierry Henry once again put on an Arsenal shirt and scored one of his trademark goals to help the Gunners into the 4th round of the FA Cup.
Only in their wildest dreams could Arsenal fans have envisaged that their hero would one day return to the club where he made a name for himself and guide them to victory once again. And despite returning as a 34-year-old, sporting a fairly untrendy beard and not looking quite as fit since his first spell, Henry played as if he had never been away. And his goal last night, as so many of his previous 226 for the club, was nothing short of clinical. Even if you are not an Arsenal fan, it would be difficult not to be humbled seeing Henry return to the club where he became a hero and score the winning goal. This was truly one of the most romantic footballing moments in recent years.
But I can’t help but think what the back pages would be saying if Henry had never been involved. Of course, the headlines were all about Henry, with phrases like ‘The Return of the King’ and ‘Va Va Voom’ used emphatically amongst the tabloids and various famous Tweeters. But had Henry not made such a memorable impact, the focus would surely be on an Arsenal side struggling at home against lower league opposition.
Prior to Henry’s introduction in the 68th minute, Arsenal were woeful. Despite their injury concerns, one would feel that they had enough experience in their squad to win comfortably against an albeit stubborn Leeds United side. Yet they were restricted to half chances for the majority of the match and the longer they struggled to find a breakthrough there was a strong sense that Leeds were in with a chance of causing an upset.