Thierry Henry: Guardiola's furious reaction when he ignored Barcelona tactics
Thierry Henry’s spell working under Pep Guardiola at Barcelona between 2008 and 2010 was a trophy-laden one.
La Blaugrana picked up two Liga La crowns, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey during the French forward’s three-season stint at Camp Nou.
Barca’s squad at the time was particularly star-studded, featuring the likes of Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol – in addition to Henry.
However, despite the presence of all of those big names, Guardiola was unmistakably the main man at Barcelona – as Henry would find out to his cost.
At previous club Arsenal – where he notched a club record 228 goals – Henry played through the middle in a central attacking role.
Such was his immense talent, though, that then-Gunners boss Arsene Wenger wouldn’t be too upset if his star man strayed into other areas in an attempt to have an impact on the game.
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Henry enjoyed no such luxury under Guardiola at Barcelona. His role in Pep’s system was to play on the left wing – and stay on the left wing unless his side were deep in attacking territory.
During a 2015 appearance on Sky Sports, Henry revealed that a fuming Guardiola had hauled him off in a Champions League match for disobeying these orders, even though he’d opened the scoring for Barca.
“How many times would we see a player come and ask for the ball [deep in central midfield]?” Henry asked the panel rhetorically. “Not with Barcelona.”
“Stay in your position, trust your teammate on the ball, and wait for the ball. Look at where I am [hugging the left touchline]. That position allowed [Andres] Iniesta to get the ball [in central midfield] because I’m occupying the