arsenal Blog and Journals

28.07.2007 14:24

Henry's diary (V)

www.fcbarcelona.cat

A few hours before facing Heart of Midlothian, Thierry Henry looked ahead to his feelings about the game. Barça are set to play in front of a full house when they take on the Jambos at Murrayfield.

"Today we are playing against Hearts in the second game during our stay in Scotland. The most important thing will be that the whole squad finishes the match without incurring any injuries. If we can also win, then that would be even better. On the other hand, when I can say is that this will be a very difficult game for us.

As I said the other day, we have only been training for a week and, just like in the first game, we will be up against a side that have had more time to prepare. In general I think that will be a good game, even though I expect it to be more difficult than the one against Dundee United. Now it is great to be playing competitive matches and I hope that we see a really good game. I think that Hearts are a team that are closer to Celtic or Rangers, the two strongest sides in Scotland. They have a very good team and I believe that they came close to winning the league a couple of years ago.

I am sure that there will be a lot of people in the ground and the atmosphere will be great as people have been waiting a long time for this match, which will no doubt be a real battle in the good sense of the word. What we will have to do is to make the best of every chance that we create, like the ones that I had in the second half against Dundee United. We have to be prepared to fight and to play well. We know how well we are capable of playing and we must be ready.

I have been told that more than 53,000 tickets have been sold for the game. The atmosphere will be incredible, but I am used to playing in stadiums like this, having played in Great Britain and seen it before. It will be a really great atmosphere, not bad at all. I expect a great game and hope to win.

We are playing at Murrayfield, a stadium that traditionally holds rugby matches. But it really makes no difference whether you play in a stadium built for football, rugby or cricket. Wherever you are, the fans always sing here and it lifts everyone and creates a great atmosphere. You will be able to see that. I do not know if it is possible to create a better atmosphere than the one I think that there will be today. Maybe we will enjoy even better atmospheres during our games in China and Japan, but here when people sing and shout it is very powerful. We just have to hope we have some luck.

Until tomorrow,

Thierry Henry"