Thierry Henry Compares ‘Ridiculous’ Erling Haaland To Manchester United Ace
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Thierry Henry has compared Borussia Dortmund goal machine Erling Haaland to his rival at Manchester United, Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Arsenal legend Henry, making his Monday Night Football return, was asked to compare the two hottest prospects in the sport: Haaland and PSG forward Kylian Mbappe.
When it was suggested that all-round attacker Mbappe was more like Henry, while single-minded striker Haaland was closer to Van Nisetrooy - who battled with Henry for the Premier League Golden Boot in the early 2000s - the French forward quickly agreed and explained why.
"He doesn't care about anything else other than the goal," said Henry of Haaland. "He doesn't care, other players will go onto the wing, he wants to stay in the frame of the net, in between the two posts. He knows he's lethal there."
"He is so powerful, by the way, if you look at him, you think: 'Oh, trouble.' The way he finishes is just ridiculous. He believes so much in himself - I like that - there's a bit of cockiness about him, you've got to be a bit cocky, you've got to look and people and think you can score.
Kylian Mbappe or Erling Haaland? :star:
- Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 15, 2021
Thierry Henry compares the two players and analyses their goals and assists for club and country :bar_chart: #MNF pic.twitter.com/D8EE5EmbHq
"Yes [he's like Van Nistelrooy]... They want to kill, they want to be in the box, they're looking at the defender and thinking: 'You're not going to be able to live with me.'
"I can see sometimes when the midfielder doesn't give him the ball, that look you sometimes give your midfielder, like: 'Are you going to give me the ball? I want to score now, I want to be the guy who's going to make the team win.' I can see that with him."
Henry also defended Haaland's reaction to scoring a retaken penalty against Sevilla, after which the 20-year-old was booked for celebrating in front of the goalkeeper, the French World Cup winner claiming that type of arrogance was needed by an elite striker.
:speaking_head: "It's part of the game, it's nice to see some characters."
- Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 15, 2021
Thierry Henry loved seeing Erling Haaland getting in the face of the Sevilla goalkeeper after he scored the retaken penalty pic.twitter.com/SXygrxRvCS
Haaland - who is reportedly Manchester United's top transfer target this summer - has an incredible 20 Champions League goals in only 14 games, after he scored four goals over the two legs of Borussia's last-16 tie against Sevilla.
However he still has a way to go to catch Van Nistelrooy (56 goals) and Henry (50 goals) who sit sixth and seventh on the all-time Champions League scorers list.
20 #UCL goals in 14 games.
- Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 10, 2021
The quickest to EVER do it.
Erling Haaland just keeps on rewriting the record books in the Champions League :chart_with_upwards_trend: pic.twitter.com/a1x3pvtz5i
Van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 goals in just 219 games for Man United, felt famously competitive with Henry and would become upset if the Arsenal ace was outsourcing him in a season.
But that competitive mentality is clearly something Henry admirers in an out-and-out striker. Which is different to the attitude of a player like himself or Mbappe, who tend to provide more assists and chances for team-mates than pure predators like Haaland and RvN.
All imagery: Sky Sports/PA Images
