When Henry was in his element! This is how the Arsenal legend toyed with Real Madrid’s star defence 17 years ago

Real Madrid, as Champions League kings, will take on Liverpool on Tuesday night. The Reds are not in the best of form this season. However, exactly 17 years ago another team, or rather its legend – Thierry Henry – shone against the Spanish giant.

There is a lot of excitement in the Spanish capital. The Champions League is back, Real Madrid are finally entering the knockout phase and they have just beaten Liverpool in the first round.

Liverpool are not doing well in the millionaire competition against the Spanish giant and this season they are in much worse shape than before.

However, there was similar enthusiasm 17 years ago, when Arsenal’s stars were at the Santiago Bernabeu, led by a French legend and one of the best footballers of at least his time. The main threat was none other than Thierry Henry.

Henry was traditionally in great form that season. He helped Arsenal to advance from the group with three goals in two games against Sparta Prague, for example, but the Gunners also faced Ajax Amsterdam and Thun of Switzerland.

The first knockout round then assigned Real Madrid as Arsenal’s opponent. And the first match decided the progression. In that game, Henry did whatever he wanted with the Los Blancos defence. His goal, which was the only one of the double match, says it all.

There were several moments throughout the game when Henry seemed to be a player from a completely different universe. Real Madrid’s defence had a lot of hard work to do with him.

However, Arsenal won the entire double-header 1-0 and went all the way to the Champions League final in the 2005/06 season. There, however, they fell short to Barcelona, where Henry transferred a little later.

Source: UEFA, Twitter, Transfermarkt