Thierry Henry: Muller-Ribery, not Ronaldo-Messi are ideal role models in football

Thierry Henry says Thomas Muller and Ribery are the best role models in modern football

Former Arsenal and Barcelona star Thierry Henry feels that Thomas Muller and Frank Ribery are the ideal role models for kids to look up to in football.

The former France International, who plays for New York Red Bulls in the MLS, is a part of the MLS all–star team that will play Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich in a pre-season friendly on Thursday.

Henry believes that Thomas Muller and Frank Ribery have not got enough credit as they should have, whereas Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been praised for their individual style of play.

At the press conference, Henry said, “Step overs, tricks, that's not the game, "The game is what Thomas Muller is doing. If I had a son right now, playing, I would say to him 'look at them, look at [Franck] Ribery, and look at Muller.”

"What Ronaldo does, and Messi, they're just freaks. Don't try to copy those guys. You can copy from Ribery, you can copy from Thomas Muller.

Henry was all praise for Thomas Muller’s unselfish way of playing and he believes Muller keeps his game plain simple.

"What he did at the World Cup, people don't talk about it. They don't talk about it, but they should talk about it. He plays the game the right way: he defends, he attacks, and he controls the ball when he has to control it, he reverses when he has to reverse it. When he has to finish, he'll finish.

"He doesn't do step overs, but when he has to perform, he performs. He does what the game asks him to do.”