Thierry Henry met with deafening boos in Dublin from still-angry Ireland fans – but ‘he won’t be upset’ says Martinez
THIERRY HENRY was met with deafening boos in Dublin as he sat on Belgium’s bench for the friendly against Ireland.
The Frenchman continues to be met with a hostile reaction from Irish fans over a decade on from his infamous handball assist that stopped Ireland going to the 2010 World Cup.
Arsenal icon Henry blatantly controlled the ball with his hand before flicking it onto the head of William Gallas to equalise in the play-off game.
France went on to win the match 2-1, booking their place in South Africa at Ireland’s expense.
Henry came face-to-face with Ireland again in his role as Belgium’s assistant coach and the locals at the Aviva Stadium took the opportunity to berate the Frenchman.
Belgium boss Roberto Martinez, speaking after the 2-2 draw said Henry “won’t be upset” by his reception.
Read more in football
The ex-Everton boss said: “He is quite an experienced man, he won’t be upset at being booed. He understands.
“First and foremost I must admit I always find it weird playing international friendlies, and this was anything but a friendly, the crowd made it a very good atmosphere.
“I am disappointed to concede the two goals we did but I am delighted with aspects.
“We worked as a team and got a positive result away from home, I was pleased with the attitude.”
Most read in Football
FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
Preston’s Alan Browne scored an 85th minute equaliser to tie the game up at 2-2.
And Martinez says the crowd played its part in inspiring Ireland to fight until the end.
He continued: “We stopped playing.
“I want us to be brave, but being brave is not sliding tackles and kicking people, it’s taking the ball and being able to give the ball and we didn’t do that.
“It’s a good lesson to be able to know what you have to do with a full crowd, a crowd giving momentum to the home team, how you can progress higher up the pitch and that’s what happened in the last 15 minutes.”