Thierry Henry has revealed the painful moment that made him realise his playing career was over.
Throughout a career that spanned 18 years, Henry played for some of the biggest clubs in world football including the likes of Juventus, Arsenal and Barcelona.
In total, the Frenchman made 813 career appearances, scoring 366 goals. Henry will go down as one of the best players to ever grace a football pitch.
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Back in 2014, Henry retired from professional football at the age of 37 after leaving MLS side New York Red Bulls.
In a recent interview on The Diary Of A CEO podcast with Steven Bartlett, Henry revealed the moment he realised his career was over.
Henry said: “Yeah there was a day, and you might laugh. But my daughter was at home in New York.
“I suffered from an Achilles problem for more than 10 years both sides, I was in pain every morning, really, pain, the pain was never going away all day, both sides, both of my Achilles.
“Sometimes, I felt a bit better, sometimes not but every morning, I was in pain, afternoon, night, for 10 years.”
He continued: “So I’m at home with my daughter and she comes close to me, touches me and goes ‘you’re it,’ and she ran. I wanted to run, I couldn’t. I wanted to run but I couldn’t. I looked at her and said ‘Hey you won’. I couldn’t chase her.
“I stopped and went ‘What are you doing?’ Like, I just couldn’t, I’m not even joking Steven, she ran and I just couldn’t move. That’s when I knew, I couldn’t handle pain anymore.
“This is what it is, forget about anything you can think of. You need to love pain to be an athlete. And I know no pain no these whatever, no, this is real, you need to love pain. If not, stay where you are.”
Speaking about how he felt after calling a day on his football career, Henry said: “I was in a way happy because I stopped.
“People stopped because of injuries, some people stopped because of different stuff, I stopped, it was on my terms, I stopped. I knew I could still play, but I stopped.”
Topics: Thierry Henry, Football
Marcus Chan