Barcelona legend Lionel Messi has admitted he was left starstruck when Thierry Henry arrived at the club from Arsenal.
The French World Cup winner arrived at the Nou Camp in the summer of 2007.
And Messi – now considered one of the greatest footballers in history – claims at the time he could barely bring himself to look at Henry, such was his admiration.
“The first day he entered the dressing room, I did not dare to look him in the face,” Messi told L’Equipe, per the Daily Mail.
“I knew everything he had done in England. I had an image of him made and suddenly we were on the same team.
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“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.”