Arsenal legend Thierry Henry says Messi has an ego and its justified

Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi were teammates when the French striker was playing for Barcelona

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has spoken out in support of his former Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi and insisted it was only natural for someone with Messi’s calibre to possess an acceptable amount of ego. Messi is often labelled as ‘humble’ when compared to rival Cristiano Ronaldo, but Henry feels knowing how good you are is not necessarily a ‘bad thing.’

Messi was his brilliant best against Manchester City last night and was only denied a goal by an equally brilliant Joe Hart. However, the Argentine did set up the only goal of the game for team-mate Ivan Rakitic.

Henry, who now works as a Sky Sports pundit said, “I'm sad for him, and upset because people doubt him sometimes. They doubt him. How can you doubt a guy like that?”

“He put himself on a level where it's impossible for me to hear people doubting this man. What he has done we should all enjoy the guy, like we did tonight. It is a pleasure. He has an ego. Of course he has an ego. Do you think you do that without having an ego? It's not a bad thing. Having an ego is not a bad thing. Knowing that you are good. You need that,” he added.

“Let's all be honest. You need that. He just plays. If you ask him to play with you now just outside the dressing room, he will just want to have fun, perform and be the best out there.”

Messi is the greatest ever

Messi also earned plaudits from Gary Linekar, another great of the game, for his performance in the City game. He termed the Argentine the greatest player to have ever played the game.

Linekar, who was working as the Match Day Presenter, tweeted, “Messi is indisputably the greatest player ever to don a pair of football boots. Don't even attempt to argue the point.

“A measure of Messi's greatness is that he makes world class players like [Sergio] Aguero and [Luis] Suarez look distinctly ordinary by comparison.'”

Messi is indisputably the greatest player ever to don a pair of football boots. Don't even attempt to argue the point.

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) March 18, 2015

A measure of Messi's greatness is that he makes world class players like Aguero and Suarez look distinctly ordinary by comparison.

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) March 18, 2015