LONDON: Thierry Henry needed just over 10 minutes to mark his Arsenal return with the winning goal as Leeds United were edged out 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium in the FA Cup third round on Monday.
The former France international, 34, left the Gunners in June 2007 as the club’s record goal-scorer and returned last week on a two-month loan from New York Red Bulls.
He could hardly have made a more impressive comeback, showing his colleagues how to finish after Leeds, currently eighth in the Championship, held out stubbornly until the 79th minute, 11 minutes after Henry had come on to a rapturous welcome from the home fans. It was his 227th Gunners goal and Arsenal’s reward is a fourth round tie at home to Aston Villa.
Henry will probably start that one, as well as be involved in Champions League fixtures.
The 1998 World Cup winner settled a game that was a repeat of the draw for the same round last season, which saw Leeds come within a handful of seconds from winning at the Emirates Stadium.
“It was a little bit of a dream, because it was a story about football you would tell some young children,” Wenger was quoted as saying by ESPN Soccernet. “Unfortunately it is not often like that in our game, but sometimes it happens.
“When he got in that position I thought ‘oh, that’s your angle’, but it was a bit too close. That is where he surprised me.”
“He still didn’t force the shot, he still made it look easy. At the start I thought he was too much on the left, but he had that special finishing that he has shown tonight. That was the Thierry Henry finishing.” (Agencies)