Lionel Messi has opened up on how he was so in awe of Thierry Henry that he couldn’t look him in the eye when he first arrived at Barcelona.
The Arsenal fan favourite left the Emirates in the summer of 2007 to join the Spanish giants for a fee believed to be €24 million.
Henry scored 228 goals for the Gunners, with 175 of them coming in the Premier League for the north London club.
As a result of this impressive form, the Frenchman at the time was widely considered to be one of the best players in the world when he joined the Spanish club.
"The first day he entered the dressing room, I did not dare to look him in the face," Messi told French publication 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.
"He gives the impression that it is natural. His career, his dribbling, the last gesture. It is fluid, proportionate."
