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Thierry Henry vs. Manchester United 2000: Why This Is My Favourite Goal Ever

Mikhail Turner@MikhailTurnerX.com LogoContributor IIIDecember 14, 2011

I'll admit, I never saw this goal live nor did I see it on TV. There weren't too many Arsenal games being shown on TV where I was and I was still very far away from the world of streaming games online. Indeed, my household was still on dial-up as far as I recall.

I have seen my fair share of great goals in this beautiful game as I am sure any football fan has. It would be a lie to say I have seen every single one, but in today's Internet age, it is only a matter of time before I will have stumbled into a large number of them.

Thierry Henry's flick and volley may very well remain my favourite goal of all time because of the creativity, composure, concentration and technique necessary to pull this off. Not to say that all great goals do not require these attributes but sometimes more than not, there is luck involved.

The more you watch the video you can see that Henry had this move in mind before—or at least while—the pass was on it's way. Any touch of genius such as this requires a great amount of creativity, and Henry was creative enough to figure out a way to score an amazing goal.

Any good striker has to have a great level of composure, especially when you have defenders breathing down your neck. Henry's composure shows itself here because he knows how tightly he is being marked but he doesn't rush the shot despite what little time he has.

From the moment the ball is passed, Henry's eyes are on it. Then, he flicks it up and sweetly connects with it. He had to have concentration to do that with a defender on him and not too much space to work with. He also had to make sure he did not over or under-hit it.

Technique played a very important part here as well. I cannot really argue with anyone's thought that this is mostly just luck except to say that you must look at the way Henry hits the ball on the close up. His foot goes across the ball in such a way that you know it is going to swerve to the right as it did.

The very fact that this was the match-winning goal and that it was done at Highbury makes it all that more special.

If you have ever managed to go through Youtube and find all Henry's goals for Arsenal, you will realize that the majority of them are the work of a clinical striker and not too many fall into the get it in any way you can category.

I would honestly place most of Henry's goals among my favorites, but that is a very long list.

For me, Henry hit a truly special note with this one.