Advertisement
Nice boss Patrick Vieira (l) and Monaco head coach Thierry Henry (r).

Henry says going head-to-head with Vieira on the line 'felt really weird'

The Arsenal and French legends met for the first time as coaches and Henry found it rather strange.

MONACO BOSS THIERRY Henry said coming up against former Arsenal team-mate Patrick Vieira as a coach felt “really weird”.

Henry and Vieira were part of Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ side that went a full Premier League season unbeaten under Arsene Wenger in 2003-04, while the pair also won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 with France.

The French duo reunited as coaches for the first time at Stade Louis II, where Monaco and Nice played out a 1-1 draw last night.

When asked how it felt to come up against Vieira, Henry told reporters: “Weird, really weird. When I saw him coming out of the locker room, it felt weird.

“We walked the steps together, we used to climb them together when we played. It was really good, a wink. But then there’s the game and you do what you have to do.

“He did what he had to do, but it felt weird. We talked, we said a few things to each other.”

Henry and Vieira shared a long embrace before kick-off in Monaco but the latter played down the meeting, saying: “We both just wished each other luck, that’s all.”

Monaco have failed to win any of their first 10 home games in a Ligue 1 season for the first time in the history of the club following the stalemate against 10-man Nice, who had Ihsan Sacko sent off.

Benoit Badiashile Mukinayi headed in a 50th-minute equaliser to cancel out the opening goal scored by Nice’s Allan Saint-Maximin.

With 13 minutes to go, Saint-Maximin was denied by Monaco goalkeeper Diego Benaglio after a VAR review adjudged Youcef Atal to have been fouled in the box.

“Monaco could have won at the end. In the first half, they had two chances where we put ourselves in danger by losing the ball. But Thierry can also be happy with the draw,” Vieira said.

“There is still pride in having held on with 10 against 11. The players showed lots of desire, they didn’t want to lose, they doubled their efforts.”

Monaco stay second-bottom in Ligue 1 following the draw. Nice move up to sixth and are now just six points behind Saint-Etienne in the final Champions League place.

Subscribe to our new podcast, Heineken Rugby Weekly on The42, here:

Author
View comments
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel