Thierry Henry rejects claims he embarrassed Lamine Yamal at Ballon d’Or ceremony

Thierry Henry has defended his comments to Lamine Yamal and Kate Scott at Monday’s Ballon d’Or awards ceremony, insisting he would never deliberately disrespect either of them.

Henry, who co-hosted the event with Scott, addressed two moments that attracted criticism in a video published after the ceremony.

The first came when Yamal went on stage to collect the Kopa Trophy for a third successive time. Henry asked the Barcelona forward whether it was the award he really wanted, adding that he expected Yamal was aiming for the bigger prize, the Ballon d’Or.

Some viewers described the question as inappropriate and accused Henry of embarrassing or bullying the young player. Others regarded it as no more than a joke.

Henry explained that he made the remark because it was Yamal’s third Kopa Trophy, while the Barcelona player has not yet won the main award.

He said he understood that some people might not have enjoyed the joke, but stressed that he was a major admirer of Yamal and enjoyed watching him play. Henry added that Yamal was among the players he would pay to watch.

The second controversy followed a discussion between Henry and Scott while they were presenting the Socrates Award, named after the late Brazilian football star.

Henry joked about Scott’s pronunciation of the former Brazil player’s name and linked it to the Greek philosopher Socrates before correcting her pronunciation.

Some viewers considered his response rude. Andrew Downie, who wrote a book about Socrates, said Scott had pronounced the name correctly and described Henry’s intervention as disrespectful.

In his video, Henry said Scott was aware of the joke and had deliberately pretended to go along with it. He accepted that some people might not find the exchange funny, but asked them to stop describing him as disrespectful.

“I would never do that,” Henry said, making clear that he would not intentionally offend either Scott or Yamal.

Henry now works as a football analyst for CBS Sports, regularly covering the UEFA Champions League alongside Scott, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards.