Thierry Henry: In Search of Lost Time

By Ulysse Pasquier, writing from Montreal

Anyone who follows football knows the amount of emotion that the sport can bring in a split second. From total despair to intense euphoria, every fan is ought to have experienced his fair share of hair-raising moments. What happened at the Emirates yesterday however transcended all these feelings. Seeing Thierry Henry warm up wearing the Arsenal colors was already a nostalgic treat every Gooner could savor. His match-winning goal however was out of this world and truly of fairytales. Much like a taste or smell that can resurrect forgotten memories, witnessing his so familiar trademark finish brought me back to a time I thought was lost, a time when I first became interested in football because I heard this Frenchman was ruling the pitches of England.

While everything in the execution of the goal was the same as the “old” Henry (except for the beard), what came next was entirely new. This was not the celebration of the confident and oh-so-cool young striker we were used to, but that of a master giving his thanks back to the club he loves. Such class for a player with a statue of himself outside of the stadium to remove all ego and give everything back to Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal. This display of pure emotion is certainly what the English game has needed as it has lost much of its humanity recently with the countless racism-related controversies. As if we didn’t miss him enough already.

The King however looked like the only one surprised in the whole Emirates Stadium to see the ball roll in the back of the net for the 227th time in his Arsenal career. In his pure moment of joy, skipping and jumping as if he was a teen again scoring his first goal for Arsenal, Henry ensured his status, whether it be past, present or future would be forever that of a legend.