FCBARCELONA.CAT

27.07.2007 16:36

Henry hopes goal is first of many

Sandra Sarmiento / Anna Segura

Thierry Henry opened his goalscoring account in an FC Barcelona shirt on Thursday. He was delighted to get his first taste of football since being injured five months ago.

Journalists from all over Europe were present to listen to Henry and Sylvinho in today’s press conference. In a jovial atmosphere, the Frenchman was asked no fewer than 25 of the 27 questions, but Sylvinho, rather than being offended, took the whole thing in his stride and joked along with Henry. The new Barça star even answered the questions from the French media in his own language before repeating what he had said in English.

His first goal

Thierry Henry said he hopes his goal against Dundee United “will be the first of many. But what matters is not who scored the goal but that the team got a good result”. He also said he was not affected by missing a penalty, even though he did put the ball away on the rebound. “The important thing is scoring” he said. “A goal is a goal and the fact is that it was my first goal”.

5 month on sidelines

Henry has been out for five months due to injury and the summer break, so “it was very important for me to play, even though it was only a friendly. When I played, it felt like I had been with this team for ages”.

A month at Barça

It is exactly a month since he joined the club, and Henry says “the impressive thing is the unity in the squad. When I arrived they told me that this is a club, but we have to win as team”. He is settling in fine and claims “it is important to speak both Spanish and Catalan and will try to learn them as quickly as possible.” And the first sign of his progress was that he didn’t need anybody to translate any of the questions fired at him from the Barcelona-based reporters in Scotland.

Feet on the ground

Henry doesn’t like to be considered a media figure. He says it is only journalists that talk about ‘stars’, saying “I’m not. I’m normal and work for the team to win. I don’t like being called a star”.

Barça’s strike force

So can Messi, Ronaldinho, Eto'o and Henry all appear in the same eleven? Says Henry “the pitch is big, and there is room for everybody” but “that all comes down to the manager.” In the 45 minutes he was on the field, the Frenchman teamed up with Bojan and Giovani, and his verdict was that “it was great to play with them. I have seen them playing internationals in different championships. They have shown they are good enough to play with us”.