Henry proud to make final appearance
Thierry Henry will swell with pride when he leads Arsenal into the Stade de France next month.
Captain Henry, the club’s greatest goalscorer, takes the Gunners into their first European Cup final in his home city of Paris.
It is the one major medal missing from his personal collection and he cannot bear the idea of failure.
All eyes will be on him because his future beyond the showpiece on May 17 remains unclear.
But Henry is determined to share the glory with his team-mates if Arsenal complete their Champions League fairytale and ask them to join him in lifting the cup together.
Henry, 28, said: “It’s going to be a very proud moment leading out the team as the skipper in Paris because everyone knows I come from the suburbs of Paris.
“It’s a great story and I’m sure it’s going to be a great day. Even in another place the emotion would be the same.
“It would be a very proud moment to lift the cup if we won it.
“I would be the first Arsenal skipper to lift the cup but it would be for everyone to lift because everyone will have played a part.
“We need to think about people like Lauren and Ashley Cole and Dennis Bergkamp and all the players who have been involved who are injured, who people forget about.
“That’s one thing I want. If we win it, everyone is going to be around and everyone is going to lift it at the same time.”
Arsenal have one of the richest histories in English football but they have never been to a European Cup final.
This is their first campaign past the quarter-finals but the idea that their name is on the trophy is gathering support.
Jens Lehmann saved a last-minute penalty in the semi-final second-leg in Villarreal to seal the win.
Henry said: “It’s the last year at Highbury and the final salute. It seems like it’s our year but it doesn’t happen just like that.
“I am not superstitious. I do not believe in these kind of things but I do believe we have 10 clean sheets in this competition and that’s something to talk about.
“We have made history by getting to the final. Everyone will remember what we’ve done, the teams we’ve beaten and the way we did it in the last minute.
“But I am a winner and we are going there to win it. I want to be the first captain of Arsenal to ever lift the trophy.”
Henry remains guarded about his future plans.
Opinion is split about whether a Champions League triumph would convince him to stay or be the perfect moment to move on to a new challenge.
A mega-bucks contract is on the table at Arsenal but Real Madrid and Barcelona would like to lure him away.
The Gunners have made their case to keep the French star by rescuing their season when it seemed to be falling apart.
Henry believes the 1-0 win at Real Madrid in February was the turning point.
The Arsenal skipper said: “In the game against Real Madrid, there were people doubting us and rightly so because we were having a bad time in the league.
“People expected them to score against us and they didn’t.
“Since that moment some things have happened. The team has shown what we can do and we can do really well.”
Boss Arsene Wenger must make sure minds do not drift towards Paris when there are three crucial league games left.
The Gunners are fifth in the Barclays Premiership and will not be in next season’s Champions League unless they can either finish fourth or win the trophy.
Arsenal play away at Sunderland and Manchester City and at home to Wigan, but also need north London rivals Spurs to drop points.
Henry said: “We can’t start dreaming of the final now. We go back and we have a massive game against Sunderland.”
