Fans were left bemused after Thierry Henry was caught up in a number of awkward moments as he hosted the Ballon d’Or on Monday night.
The legendary Arsenal striker Henry took on hosting duties alongside his CBS Sports colleague Kate Scott, but the pair’s usual chemistry was lacking as a handful of awkward moments overshadowed the usual suave event.
The first came as Lamine Yamal joined Henry on stage to pick up the young player of the year award. Henry posed the Barcelona star a question in Spanish, which he did not appear to understand, creating an awkward exchange.
Fans branded Thierry Henry’s stilted banter ‘awkward’
AFP/Getty
He then asked Yamal whether he would have preferred to win the Ballon d’Or rather than the Kope Trophy, which some fans deemed ‘unnecessary’.
“Henry is so wrong for asking him that question,” one wrote.
Henry later corrected Scott on her pronunciation of the Socrates Award, named after the late Brazilian footballer rather than the Greek philosopher, which she did not appear to appreciate.
There were a number of other odd incidents, with various guests seemingly unable to hear Henry and Scott. That came on the heels of various other organisational gaffes, with the ceremony being delayed 45 minutes due to bad traffic. Three articles naming Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal as winners of the Ballon d’Or were also erroneously published to the France Football website.
“He’s an extreme pain to watch,” one fan wrote of Henry on X, formerly Twitter. Another added he was “behaving like a right plum.” A range of fans described the ceremony as “awkward”.