Thierry Henry reaps reward with friends who were once foes

There is a certain irony that Thierry Henry exorcised the biggest disappointment of his career by joining the ranks of those who inflicted it. Only three years ago, he left the Stade de France in a huff complaining that Barcelona had offered nothing after beating his Arsenal side 2-1, but the 31-year-old France striker was in a far better mood last night as he contributed to the Spanish champions regaining the European crown.

“Arsenal are in my heart and blood and the Champions League defeat with them was the biggest disappointment of my career, but tonight I am happy,” Henry said. “I’ve waited so long for this and the last five minutes were the longest of my life. We were 2-0 up, but were playing the best team in the world so you never know.

“This team [Barcelona] is unbelievable. It is not only the Champions League, no team has ever done the treble in Spain before and we will always be remembered as the first. Apart from the way we played, it is the way we fought all season. I wasn’t going to play and went through pain to play. So did [Andrés] Iniesta and the way we played, apart from the first ten minutes against a United team who are always difficult, was amazing.”

The most remarkable aspect of Barcelona’s historic triumph is that it has been masterminded by a coach in his first season at the highest level, but Pep Guardiola believes that more honours will follow. “We have won three trophies in a season, but this is only just the start,” he said.

“Next season we want to be back in the final playing a different team. What is so rewarding is that we have done it playing a certain way and we have never deviated from that.

“We were not cowards against United. I told the players that they could not be afraid of the world champions. We stood up to them. I am very happy with the outcome. We have given the Catalan people exactly what they wanted and now we can celebrate with our people.”- Times