Arsenal icon humiliated a player into storming off training pitch in 'crazy' scenes

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Thierry Henry once left Romelu Lukaku in awe after humiliating a Belgium national team player with a piece of skill during training. The Arsenal legend served as Roberto Martinez's assistant coach with Belgium from 2016 to 2018, before returning in 2021 to lend his expertise for the 2022 World Cup.

Henry, widely regarded as both Arsenal and the Premier League's greatest ever player, worked closely with Belgium's golden generation of attackers, including former Manchester United and Chelsea striker Lukaku. The Gunners icon proved the ideal mentor, except when his effortless quality showed he remained far superior to top level players, crushing their confidence.

That became apparent in a video call between Henry and Lukaku on Puma's Instagram page during the Covid-19 pandemic, where the latter recounted a moment when the World Cup winner showed he was still too good for one of his Belgium team-mates.

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Lukaku said to his former coach: "I think, in the national team when you were there, I think for us the strikers we had maybe the best time we could ever had, because the competition was there.

"Everyone played at a high level, thanks to you. We constantly wanted to do better, outdo each other. And even you were joining in the competition! That was the funny part. You may have been retired, but it was not visible at times."

Henry confessed he occasionally couldn't resist flaunting his skills. They clearly had not diminished with retirement if Lukaku’s story about a particular training session was anything to go by, given he humiliated an unnamed player to the point he had to leave the pitch.

Lukaku, currently at Napoli , recalled: "I remember when my brother came and he was like you did this skill in training, I’m not going to say any names, but the player left the pitch.

"No, don't!" Henry replied, as Lukaku continued: "Jordan [his brother and team-mate] came to me and he said, 'Rom! I’ve seen some s*** today! Damn!' He was like, 'Damn man, that s*** was crazy!'" Henry then erupted into laughter at Lukaku's retelling of the moment.

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The Frenchman remained as Martinez's assistant and guided Belgium to the World Cup semi-finals, where they fell to eventual champions France. He left his Belgium role shortly after the tournament.

Following a disappointing stint at Monaco, where he was sacked, Henry managed MLS side Montreal Impact. He steered the club to its first playoff qualification in several years, before resigning in 2021 to spend more time with his children in London.

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