“Thierry Henry was my idol, I wanted to be like him so bad”: Giannis Antetokounmpo gushes about Titi after French football legend congratulates 2021 NBA champion

Giannis capped off the achievement of his life a few days back. But receiving a compliment from Thierry Henry is definitely extra special.

Thierry Henry, or Titi as known by Arsenal fans, was a revelation of a footballer. He was as fast as he was graceful, as classy on the ball as he was lethal at finishing.

There were times when he made football look too easy. Premier League defenders didn’t know what to make of him for 8 straight years as he ran riot on one of the toughest leagues in European football.

Henry is universally loved by fans all around the globe – except, perhaps, Ireland. As a young boy playing soccer in the streets of Athens, Giannis dreamt of being like the Frenchman.

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It’s great for basketball fans that the Greek Freak eventually picked up basketball and excelled at it. Giannis put together an all-time great NBA Finals performance to take the Bucks to the dub.

Giannis Antetokounmpo gushes about Thierry Henry

The Milwaukee Bucks’ PR team released a congratulatory video from Thierry Henry for the Bucks’ MVP and Giannis’ reaction while watching Titi’s message today.

Henry was effusive in his praise for Giannis, noting that the Freak had promised him a Bucks championship verbatim. Thierry gave Giannis his props for representing the city of Milwaukee in such glorious fashion  and bringing them a championship after a 50-year gap.

We surprised @Giannis_An34 with a special congratulatory message from his childhood idol, @Arsenal legend, Thierry Henry: pic.twitter.com/HPOKJwBTkX

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) August 12, 2021

Antetokounmpo seemed genuinely speechless while watching Henry’s message. His reaction was much like that of the average 26-year-old brought up on a staple of Titi feating on Premier League defenders:

“Wow that’s crazy. That’s insane, that’s really insane. I wanted to be him growing up. My dad was playing soccer, I wanted to be him so, so bad.”

“But, you know, I fell in love with basketball. But this message meant a lot to me, you know. From him, saying we did it. But now that we’re up, there’s going to be a lot of people trying to bring us down again.”

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