Thierry Henry speaks out over Lamine Yamal joke at Ballon d'Or as Kate Scott responds

Thierry Henry has spoken out to address the response to a joke he made to Lamine Yamal after he won the Kopa Trophy at the Ballon d'Or ceremony.

Yamal won the Kopa Trophy - awarded to the world's best young player - for the third consecutive year at the ceremony, which was held at the London Palladium on Monday night. He dedicated his award to Barcelona team-mate Pau Cubarsi and said he should have won it instead, which visibly surprised Henry.

Moments before that, the Arsenal legend asked Yamal whether the Kopa Trophy was 'the one he really wanted' - clearly referencing the Spaniard's hopes of winning the Ballon d'Or, which was ultimately won by Harry Kane, later that night. Yamal would laugh before responding: "[I want] All of them!"

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Thierry Henry releases video over Lamine Yamal joke

In a video posted to his official Instagram account, Henry said: "I've been seeing a lot ofg people talking about the Ballon d'Or night, so I want to clarify some stuff, what people got really excited for actually nothing.

"For Lamine Yamal, I wasn't checking his ego at all. I just thought that, as the third time that he's winning that trophy, I just asked him if that's the one that he really wanted. I am a big fan of Lamine Yamal. I wasn't checking his ego whatsoever. That you didn't like the joke, I can understand, but please don't do that. He's one of the players that I will pay to watch. I love him. So I was just asking if it was the one that he really wants, because I knew that the real prize was coming after. Unfortunately, he didn't win it, because he's a hell of a player that I enjoy to watch."

Henry also addressed a joke he made to co-host Kate Scott, where he corrected her pronunciation of Socrates, the name of the Brazilian legend who had a humanitarian award named after him at the Ballon d'Or.

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The Frenchman said that Scott was in the joke - and she replied underneath his post that there was 'no disrespect to speak of'.

Image: Instagram/Thierry Henry

"Kate was with me on that joke," Henry said. "And you can ask Kate, by the way. She did it on purpose, to say Socrates. And I had to say Socrates [different pronunciation].

"Again, that you didn't like the joke, I understand. But please stop saying that I disrespect Kate. I will never do that. And you can ask her people, she was in on the joke. She said Socrates on purpose. So please, stop inventing stories.

"And the last one, if you don't watch our show on CBS. Harry Kane, the other day after the game between Bayern Munich versus Arsenal, called me out for supporting Kylian Mbappe. So I told him the other day that I'm French and I was always going to back up and support my fellow countryman. I just said to him [Kane], 'You are a worthy winner. You deserve it. You are the example of what I always call: work ethic is a talent, working hard is a talent'. I said, 'You are a worthy winner. Well done, Harry Kane'. And I call him Sir Harry Kane since the World Cup.

"So please, people out there. Relax. I love Harry Kane, I love Lamine Yamal. And I didn't disrespect Kate. She was in on the joke with me. Have a good night, see you soon."