Pep Guardiola was very demanding and intense, admits Theirry Henry
Former Barcelona player Thiery Henry feels Pep Guardiola was a very intense coach and it felt like playing chess under him. Henry, after his arrival at Camp Nou, won two La Liga titles, one Copa Del Rey and also a Champions League trophy during his three-year stay at the Catalan club.
After eight successful years at Arsenal during which he won two league titles, two FA Cups, Thierry Henry shifted his allegiance to Spanish giants FC Barcelona in 2007. The striker played under two coaches in Spain, first under Frank Rijkaard and then Pep Guardiola. During an Instagram chat, the footballer revealed that playing under Pep was more like playing chess with his intense tactical abilities.
"Suddenly you arrive at Barcelona and I had Rijkaard asking me to stay on the left and then when Pep arrived...Pep is an amazing coach first and foremost but he's very demanding, very intense and it's almost like you play chess with him," said Thiery Henry told Manchester City forward Sergio Aguero during an Instagram chat.
"You need to make fake runs to take the backline away, to create space for the No.10 on your side because we were playing with one holding midfielder and two No.10s so I always had to make runs in behind to make sure that Andres (Iniesta) was going to get the ball and if you don't you kill the space,” added the footballer.
During the three seasons at Camp Nou, he guided them to two La Liga titles, one Copa Del Ray, one Champions League and a FIFA Club World Cup title. Thierry Henry revealed that he never wanted to leave Arsenal but he did and went to Barcelona and leaned a different type of game over there.
"Arsenal, I never thought I was going to leave but I did. I went to Barcelona, a different type of game, a different type of style to relearn how to play the game because at Arsenal, Dennis was there, Kanu was there and I could move everywhere upfront, come in the middle, get the ball, go on the right and the left," admitted Henry.
