For Barcelona fans, it must be easy to become just a little complacent gazing at the outrageous riches on parade every week. At Valencia's Mestalla Stadium on Sunday they had already had an hour of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Samuel Eto'o weaving their intricate patterns when Thierry Henry
was called off the bench. Ho hum ...
There was a time when, if the finest player the Premier League ever saw was about to take to the pitch, our stadiums would be gripped by anticipation. So it says much about the quality of Henry's new mates that his entry is now greeted with just a matter-of-fact shrug. No longer Arsenal's Sun King, he is just one among galactico equals. And yet even in this shining company, he still radiates a special brilliance. When he came on with Barcelona 2-1 down
to formidable opponents and thoughts meandering to tomorrow's dalliance with Guus Hiddink's Chelsea, Henry transformed the game with all his old languid elegance.
One minute, he was loping in off the left flank, firing tracers; the next interchanging with Eto'o and Messi in their hypnotic and bewildering three-step; and, ultimately, when Barcelona needed late inspiration, he was cool enough, given half a chance by a goalkeeping error, to lob the ball over the massed Valencia defence into a gaping net to seal the draw.
At the start of what coach Pep Guardiola called the most critical spell of Barca's season - a 12-day, four-game stint that takes in both semifinal legs against Chelsea and a potentially Championship-deciding clash at Real Madrid - Henry's dance of delight told of the significance, actual and psychological, of his 86th-minute equaliser.
Chelsea must have been loving it. Despite all the love letters being penned about Barca, their defending had been poor, their goalkeeper Victor Valdes was at his dodgiest and Messi was greedy and wasteful.
"Yet the comeback showed our confidence, courage and spirit," Henry enthused, sounding every inch the team man. A sea of microphones washed around him and the man could not have looked more at home if he were being serenaded on Arsenal's North Bank.
The mind flashed back to his first Barca game, a friendly at Dundee United, at the start of last season when, amid similar hoopla, Henry just seemed a bit taken aback by the Catalan madness he had signed up for.
The culture shock did affect him. Off the field, amid turmoil in his private life, he was evidently homesick, missing his daughter back in London. On the field, still not properly fit after his injury woes in England and shoved on to the left flank after years of everything revolving around him as the focal point of the attack, he too often cut a peripheral figure.
Yet this season he has been reinvigorated by Guardiola, who has made Henry feel his importance to the club in the post-Ronaldinho era. Suddenly he felt wanted again and, with Ronnie gone, was granted the freedom of left field.
The results have been a delight. Striking up a devastating understanding with Eto'o in the middle and Messi on the right, the trio have now scored a faintly unreal total of 87 goals between them this season - 23 for Henry, 34 for Messi and 30 for Eto'o.
Quickly, after his false start, the status of icon has been bestowed again. Not only has he become a popular team member - and Samuel Eto's big buddy, which always helps - but has also revelled in being almost a father figure to the team's youngsters, like the brilliant Bojan Krkic.
Ultimately, though, the true measure of Henry's excellence really did emerge during his travails last season. Yes, he did moan but he never stopped trying, never stopped working and still finished as top scorer.
He could have sulked or flounced back to England. He didn't. He stayed, trusted his sublime skill, got fit and fought to prove his mastery once again. Each time he looked at his Barca team-mates and recalled his emptiness after losing the Champions League final to them in Paris, he could be reminded it was his ambition to be champion of Europe which kept driving him on.
The result? Chelsea, a team he scored 10 times against when wearing Arsenal red, will tomorrow be reacquainted with an old tormentor, a great player now reinvented in a great team.
COMING UP
Champions' League first-leg semifinals
*Barcelona v Chelsea, tomorrow, 6.30am. Live on ESPN.
*Manchester United v Arsenal, Thursday, 6.30am. Live on ESPN.
- TELEGRAPH GROUP LTD
Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o have lit up Barcelona's games this season, scoring 87 goals between them. Photo / AP.
For Barcelona fans, it must be easy to become just a little complacent gazing at the outrageous riches on parade every week. At Valencia's Mestalla Stadium on Sunday they had already had an hour of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Samuel Eto'o weaving their intricate patterns when Thierry Henry
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