GOAL sat down with the legendary French striker to discuss the battle for the Champions League, courtesy of the new ‘No Lay’s, No Game’ campaign
There is an X-factor about Thierry Henry that has followed him from his retirement as a leading striker into his post-playing days. He was the coolest guy in football with the ball at his feet, and that remains the case on this side of the chalked lines, an instantly recognisable and unifying figure.
When he talks, you listen. That aura is unmistakable, undeniable. The ordinary mind doesn’t understand football the way that Henry and his peers do.
In addition to punditry and coaching, Henry is an ambassador for UEFA Champions League snack partner Lay’s, who recently launched a new campaign, No Lay’s, No Game, featuring the Frenchman alongside current Barcelona and Spain star Alexia Putellas. The premise – the ‘Lay’s Crawl’ – is the two walk into a bar on a Champions League night, and if it offers Lay’s, then they will stay. If not, those in the bar miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime chance to watch the game with two legends. Over in Miami, fellow Barca alumni Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez have been venturing on their own leg of the campaign.
GOAL had the chance to speak to Henry to talk this season’s Champions League, his former club’s chances and more.
No comparisons between Messi & Yamal
Henry was a Champions League winner with Barcelona back in 2009, beating Manchester United 2-0 in a memorable final in Rome. That night, a teenage Messi leapt forward with an uncharacteristic header to not only seal victory, but announce himself as a real contender for GOAT status.
If Barca are to be successful this year and claim a sixth European crown, then another left-footed teenager, Lamine Yamal, will be crucial to their hopes. Given their similar playing styles and positions, Yamal has often been compared to Messi, but Henry was very keen to play down comparisons between the club’s heroes of past and present.
“I don’t like comparisons!” Henry says when quizzed on the duo. “I don’t like when people compare eras or players. Leo is Leo, and Lamine Yamal…”
Henry pauses, carefully choosing his words and sentiment. “He isn’t even trying to be Lamine Yamal – he is already Lamine Yamal,” he finally deduces with a mischievous smile and nod of the head.
‘He understands the game’
Henry could have stopped right there, but he instead wanted to dive into why he is in so much awe over Yamal, who doesn’t turn 18 until July. And it wasn’t necessarily the numbers he’s put up this season (11 goals and 17 assists in all competitions to be precise, but who’s keeping count?).
“What impresses me apart from the goals and the skills and the step-overs is how mature he is,” Henry continues. “The way he plays the game…the game against France with Spain (at Euro 2024), he had the ball at one point, they were 2-1 up and on the counter, one-v-one with Theo Hernandez. He can go. But he stopped the ball, he passed it back to Dani Carvajal and he said to everyone to calm down. With his hands, he went calm down. And I was like, ‘wow, at this age you already know what you need to do’. If he tried to take the ball and play one-v-one nobody would’ve said anything, it’s normal. But he understood in that moment ‘I can’t lose that ball, France are trying to come back, so let’s keep it’.
“That’s why I think he’s special for me because he understands the game already, how to control the rhythm and tempo of the game. When you’re young, you just take the ball and do you, yet he has that already in his locker. So well done.”
How Arsenal can win the Champions League
Discussion turns to another of Henry’s former clubs in Arsenal, who have not gone any closer to winning their first-ever Champions League since he spearheaded their run to the final back in 2006, losing to Barcelona late on having played nearly the entire game with 10 men. Right now, the European Cup appears to be the Gunners’ best hope of silverware this season.
“It’s been the story of the club,” Henry says of their failure to become kings of the continent. “We haven’t won it, even me as a player (for Arsenal). We went to the final and we know what happened in the final. It never happened.
“It’s not easy – it took Manchester City a long time to win it. You need everybody to be fit, you need everybody to play that game on that day, home and away. You need to have that final where everything goes your way. You need a bit of luck, and you need a lot of stuff. It’s not an easy one to win. When you look at who’s won it recently, the same name comes around, unfortunately for the other teams.”
Mikel Arteta’s side have been dogged by an injury crisis all throughout 2024-25, so they may perhaps need a bit more of the luck part in lieu of fitness if they are to finally lift the Champions League. But they face stiff competition for the trophy.
This season’s contenders
The first year of the Champions League’s new format has sprung up some surprises already, with 2023 winners City already out before the last-16 stage. So who does Henry think can go all the way?
“It’s open,” he insists. “Apart from Liverpool you will say, who you can say have been consistent in the league and Champions League, you can see how they might be successful. And still you don’t know!
“There are teams who are up-and down. Barca, very successful in the Champions League but up-and-down in the league. (Real) Madrid didn’t start well, they went into the play-off against City. But you know, Inter, Bayern, Liverpool, we’re gonna name the usual suspects. The team who has been most consistent is Liverpool, if you take away the FA Cup. They have been consistent in every competition. We will see what’s going to happen.”
‘So far, nobody booed!’
You may have recognised Henry’s face in Lay’s campaigns of the recent past. He’s shown up at fans’ houses to surprise them, and also joined forces with David Beckham at the famous San Siro, putting on the Lay’s Chip Cam to find a supporter to watch the match with.
“Look, it’s my third season and I’m still blown away by some of the reactions of the fans,” Henry explains when talking about the ‘Lay’s Crawl’. “I did the first one at the houses, and second at a game, and I also went to the house but this time I had someone with me in Alexia which helped because obviously she’s a Barca legend. So it did help. But to see the reaction of the fans, that moment where they realise we’re here and they didn’t know we were coming, it’s second to none. I think it was on the first one when a woman cried. People try to make you stay – you know the story, No Lay’s, No Game. If they don’t have Lay’s we leave, but if they do we stay. But they try to make you stay and believe they have Lay’s or they can cook something for you or whatever it is!
“So to see the reaction and have that moment with us…it was a great moment for us but also for me. It’s nice to see that kind of love sometimes, you know? That and vice versa. And when you stay it’s even more, we have a moment that we can cherish. Sometimes when you do an ad, people know that you’re coming, it’s been scripted, they love you because you have to, but there you get the real reception. So far, nobody booed!”
‘Maybe the new generation don’t know me’
For a third Lay’s campaign running, here Henry is here, front and centre. So what keeps him coming back again and again?
“The idea of it, just being able to have the interaction with the fans,” he replies. “The first one, I’ve been told it was going outside of Barcelona to people’s houses, and I was like, ‘I’m going to people’s houses? I have to speak Spanish?’ You don’t know if some of them are going to be Espanyol fans or if they’re Barca fans. Maybe the guy is like ‘what are you doing here, I don’t like Barca’! And you’re just like, ‘do you have any Lay’s?’ The one in Milan was the same. It’s just to have that moment with the fans.”
Henry is almost a man who needs no introduction. He is someone who transcends football, and for a point in the noughties, even sport itself. It’s why it was so surprising to hear his fear of not being recognised, even in a city he once called home.
“I never was in a situation where someone knew I was coming. Normally in an ad, if someone doesn’t like you, they’ll act like they like you because they’re there. But the last one was different going into a pub. The houses were one or two people, apart from the stadium but you’re talking to the stadium. This one where you walk in and see a room of 150-200 people, you’re like ‘hopefully they like us’. Because I stopped playing, maybe the new generation don’t know (me) with social media. That’s why I was very comfortable with Alexia because she’s still playing and doing it. It was for me the main reason first and foremost the idea behind it and how connected and having that moment we can have with the fans.”
Ahead of the knockout stages of the Champions League, Lay’s are installing ‘Lay’s Lights’ outside select bars and pubs in Spain, Portugal, Germany, Ukraine and South Africa to help fans find their favourite snack. If they are at those bars and eating Lay’s during a knockout match, then Henry and Putellas may cover the tab themselves. More information on the launch can be found on the Lay’s Football Instagram page.