Arsenal Legend Thierry Henry Lauds Liverpool’s Unsung Hero After He Inspires The Reds To Victory Over Ajax

Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry has lavished praise on one Liverpool player, suggesting he is the unsung hero of this Reds’ team. The player in discussion of the former striker was Liverpool center-back Joel Matip. The 31-year-old rose to occasion as he headed in the 89th minute winner against Ajax. His goal earned Liverpool their first win of the season in the European competition.

With the game heading towards a stalemate as both the team were locked on 1-1, Matip scored from a late set-piece to bag all three points. Earlier, Mohamed Salah had opened the scoring for the home side in the 17th minute from a Diogo Jota set up as Liverpool were off to a good start following their 4-1 drubbing in the previous fixture against Napoli. However, their joy and lead were short-lived as Ajax responded with an equalizer 10 minutes later through Mohammed Kudus.

Thierry Henry pin points Matip’s importance in the Liverpool team

Joel Matip has often been in the shadow of his partner in defense Virgil van Dijk who has had a towering presence in the Liverpool backline. However, Matip’s importance in the team goes behind all of this as he has regularly chipped in with some robust performances. The Cameroonian has also scored some crucial goals for the Merseyside club, just like the one he netted recently.

Signed from German side Schalke 04 in 2016 on a free transfer, Matip has come a long with the Reds making 171 appearances and scoring 10 goals for the club. He has also helped them to six trophies, which includes the famous Champions League triumph of 2019 where he started the final alongside Van Dijk.

Once again making a mark in his first start since recovering from a muscle strain he suffered earlier at the start of the season, Matip proved his mettle in front of a packed Anfield. Lauding his display, Thierry Henry who was on punditry duty of CBS Sports said:

“I am happy for [Joel] Matip. This is a guy where people will not talk a lot when mentioning Liverpool. You are going to mention [Virgil] Van Dijk, [Mohamed] Salah, [Sadio] Mane back in the day or [Roberto] Firmino. But Joel always comes and does the job. He often scores important goals actually. Headers. Unlucky in some situations, but when he scores, they are good and important.”