Thierry Henry has claimed that Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino was once ‘the complete’ striker in the Premier League, but ‘not the best’, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (28/09/21 at 7:20 pm).
The Premier League legend was told to list his top five number 9’s in the world, right now, and he named Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema in second place.
The France international was beaten to the top spot by Cristiano Ronaldo, on Henry’s list, with the likes of Roberto Lewandowski and Erling Haaland also getting a mention.
Given that the Highbury hero labelled Benzema as the ‘most complete’ out of the players above, it was then put to him, by Jamie Carragher, why isn’t he then number one?
And in order to explain his reasoning behind putting Benzema second, he compared him to Liverpool’s quick-thinking forward.
“For me, I think he (Benzema) is the most complete striker in the world,” said Henry.
“But complete doesn’t mean you are the best. For example, at Liverpool, Firmino was the complete striker in the Premier League. But he wasn’t the best.
“He (Benzema) can do everything. He answered since Ronaldo left (Real Madrid). And he has won the Champions League so many times.
“That’s pretty good enough for number two.”
Whilst Liverpool were running riot in Portugal on Tuesday night, Benzema was on the wrong end of perhaps the biggest shock in Champions League history.
His Real Madrid side were beaten by Sheriff Tiraspol, who rocked up to the Bernabeu and secured a deserved 2-1 win.
But that perhaps showcases what Benzema has had to deal with since Ronaldo left because the club have declined.
Then again, there is perhaps an even bigger decline at their rivals in Barcelona, who are now without their own superstar, in a financial crisis and have lost their opening two Champions League matches.
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