Montreal (AFP)

At the end of a year 2020 when the pandemic has imposed many challenges, Thierry Henry believes in an interview with AFP to have "learned a lot" on the human level "for his first season at the head of Montreal, within 'a North American Football Championship (MLS) "not as easy as people think".

QUESTION: The 2020 MLS season has been heavily disrupted by the pandemic which has forced you to play most of your matches in the United States.

What difficulties marked your first season at the head of the Impact Montreal, which is now called CF Montreal?

ANSWER: "It was not always easy to manage because at one point the team was isolated, far from their family (...) When you train and you can go home, even in a period of Covid, as in the French championship, (that's fine), but we had to play away and at one point mentally, it's not always easy. (...) The dilemma was: if you go home, you don't train. If you stay in New Jersey, you train, but you don't see your family (...) What is important is that we still got into what we wanted to do, the play-offs. Unfortunately we did not go far in the play-offs (elimination in the preliminary round by New England 2-1, Editor's note), but there is has good things that came out: self-denial, envy in difficulty ".

Q: Your coaching experience in Monaco only lasted three months, in Montreal you completed a full season.

Do you consider that you have progressed and learned a lot, in which area?

A: "Yes, very much on a human level. Football remains a team sport, but there is a lot of individualism from time to time, it's true that we always think of ourselves, our own bubble and there , everything that happened this year, means that on a human level, a lot of people opened up, a lot of things happened in life, not just in sport. (...) learn every day, but on a human level, this year has been really important to try to understand the players a little more and to know what is going on their mind.

Q: You knew MLS as a player under the New York Red Bulls jersey (2010-2014), how do you judge the level of this championship in 2021?

A: "It's a growing league, she's only 25, she's super young. She's not as easy as people think. I've seen a lot of great players. Europeans come here who have not performed well (...) Now, fighting against history is not easy. There are championships which have 150 years of history, 120, 100, we cannot not compare that with 25 years of history. It is growing, it has improved significantly in terms of facilities, in terms of players coming from the Mexican championship or much younger players from Europe or elsewhere ".

Q: Rumor has it that your former Barca teammate Lionel Messi could leave Barcelona for New York, can you believe it?

A: "I don't like to speculate (...). If he spoke about it, it is because he must think about it. It would be extraordinary for MLS".

Q: Do you think the French team have any chances of winning the Euro?

And Olivier Giroud (44 goals) to catch up with you at the top of the list of top scorers for the Blues (51)?

A: "Olivier knows what I think of him, we talk to each other quite often (...) The French team is world champion, they lost the Euro (in the final) before. It's a team with + DD + (the coach of the France team Didier Deschamps Editor's note), as usual, well brought (...) I hope they can win this Euro. I played football, there's nothing 100% sure so I always say I hope ".

Interview by Eric THOMAS

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