Arsenal legend Thierry Henry recalled how former Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi scored a stunning solo effort that was “not normal” and “defied logic.”
The 44-year-old legendary former striker linked up with Messi in 2007 after Barcelona landed him in a £16.1m transfer from Arsenal.
Henry captured two La Liga titles, a Champions League and a Copa del Rey during his three seasons at Barcelona before leaving for New York Red Bulls in 2010.
The French icon, who is in his second spell as assistant coach of the Belgium national team, was left in awe at what Messi pulled off against Malaga.
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“The best goal I’ve seen him score was against Malaga at home because that defied logic what he did,” Henry said in 2018’s Take the Ball Pass the Ball documentary.
“Diagonal ball, he controls it on his chest, runs full speed. First player goes, second player is just behind. He takes another step, that player can clear the ball.
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“If he’s got the ball on his left foot here, how do you go back with that same leg and touch the ball in the air, in between the two to make sure that guy doesn’t touch it -- and then almost fail but smash it into the top corner. That’s not normal.”
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Messi received the ball from a diagonal cross and expertly brought it under control with his chest, taking one Malaga player out of the match in the progress.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner darted towards the Malaga box at full speed and took out another player with the simplest of touches while another Malaga player tracked back.
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Despite being under pressure, Messi cleared his feet before firing a superb strike into the back of the Malaga net at the Camp Nou.
Messi, 34, shocked the world last summer after he left Barcelona and completed a sensational free transfer move to Paris Saint-Germain.
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During his remarkable playing career at Barcelona, the Argentine ace revealed he had huge admiration for Henry and was starstruck by his arrival at the La Liga club.
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“The first day he entered the dressing room, I did not dare to look him in the face,” Messi told L’Equipe.
“I knew everything he had done in England. I had an image of him made and suddenly we were on the same team.
“What I feel for Titi may be a form of admiration. I loved Henry. The ease of finishing an action, how he takes the road to the goal and ends the play.
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“He gives the impression that it is natural. His career, his dribbling, the last gesture. It is fluid, proportionate.”
Topics: Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Barcelona, La Liga, Spain, Football
Adnan Riaz