At New York’s 2-2 tie against Olympique Lyonnais on Tuesday at Red Bull Arena, a former “teammate” of Red Bulls forward Thierry Henry was in attendance.
All-time leading Northwestern University goal scorer Matt Eliason was in the house to check out the international friendly. Eliason has most recently gained fame for a tremendous bicycle kick he scored in Lionel Messi’s “Messi & Friends” charity match held at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL. Henry was the one who delivered the cross, which the current GE Capital analyst chested into the air and acrobatically struck it into the back of the net.
After the Red Bulls match, Eliason was able to chat with Henry and spent a couple of minutes speaking to NewYorkRedBulls.com.
Q: What has the attention been like since you scored the goal?
Matt Eliason: Yeah it’s been such a crazy week. Getting all the responses from friends and family, seeing myself on SportsCenter, it’s something I thought would never happen and it’s really been a great experience.
Q: Can you take us through the goal?
ME: Yeah, I mean I just thought I might as well go for it. It’s not often you get to play in front of all of those people at Soldier Field and it was just really cool to get to play with all those players and I’m happy it worked out.
Q: What was it like to play with Thierry Henry?
ME: I grew up watching him at Arsenal and to actually be on the same field as him is something I could have never foreseen. But yeah it was just awesome, and now getting to meet him again, is, it’s just cool, it’s a cool experience.
Q: Could you tell us about seeing Thierry again?
ME: Yeah, it was cool, just the fact that he remembered that he passed it to me and the fact that he thought it was a special goal as well. You know, getting that sort of compliment from such a great player is pretty sweet.
Q: What were your thoughts on your first visit to Red Bull Arena:
ME: This is my first time and I was amazed when I came in. It’s top class, a really nice place, it was really cool to watch the game and it was neat to get to see them play a team like Lyon.
Check out Eliason’s goal and his interview with ESPN’s SportsCenter:
