Thierry Henry is currently plying his trade as Roberto Martinez’s assistant manager in the Belgium national side.
The former Arsenal striker is admired by many football fans around the world for his achievements in the game and is widely regarded as being one of the most prolific goal scorers ever.
But there is one country that still holds a grudge against the Frenchman.
Back in 2009, the Republic of Ireland played in a two-leg World Cup playoff match against France, with the winner of the tie qualifying for the 2010 tournament in South Africa.
France won the first leg of the play-off with Nicolas Anelka netting the only goal in a 1-0 win at Croke Park to give Les Blues the advantage heading into the home leg.
Yet, they didn’t have it all their own way at the Stade de France, with Robbie Keane stepping up to level the scores in the return fixture and take the game to extra time.
With 17 minutes remaining in the match, William Gallas headed over the line to make it 2-1 to France on aggregate, booking his side a place at the World Cup the following year.
Yet, there was much controversy in the build-up to the goal, with Henry seeming to handle the ball not once, but twice, before crossing to Gallas in the mouth of the goal.
While the foul was clear as daylight to those in the commentary box, the referee chose to let the illegal goal stand, heartbreakingly for the Republic of Ireland, who have still not qualified for a World Cup since 2002.
What was even more painful for the Irishmen was the fact that the French captain, Henry, openly admitted to defender Richard Dunne after the match that he had handled the ball in the run-up to the winning goal.
But it seems that incident has not been quickly forgotten by Ireland supporters.
During Saturday night’s 2-2 draw between the Republic of Ireland and Belgium, Henry received a very unwelcoming reception at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
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The 44-year-old was pictured on the big screen sitting in the dugout during the international friendly and subsequently received mass boos and jeers from the home crowd around the stadium.
Check out their reaction in the video below…
A warm welcome to Dublin for Thierry Henry… pic.twitter.com/HAm2UwMKWO
— Nathan Murphy (@nathanmurf) March 26, 2022
The Aviva faithful certainly made their feelings about the Belgium coach clear during the match.
But before the game, head coach Martinez claimed that Henry’s past against Ireland was now irrelevant.
He said: “Thierry created incredible moments and created incredible stories as a player, and now he is in a completely different role.
“Now Thierry Henry is not a player anymore, he works with the national team and his work is very, very important.
“For me to comment on what Thierry Henry did as a player is out of place.”