Henry insists he WASN'T 'obsessed' with beating Van Nistelrooy to Golden Boot

Thierry Henry says he was not obsessed with beating Ruud van Nistelrooy to the Premier League Golden Boot after it was revealed the Manchester United striker used to sulk when his rival scored.

Henry and Van Nistelrooy were the most prolific strikers in England during the Arsenal and Manchester United rivalry of the early 2000's with each competing to be the division's top scorer.

The United striker's former team-mates Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes recently spoke about how determined the Dutchman was to claim the golden boot, revealing he used to check if his rival had scored straight after finishing his own game.

But Henry is adamant he did have the same obsession as his opponent and told Puma he used to give up chances to score in order to assist team-mates.

'It became a story between me and him because it was always him or me [to win the golden boot],' he told England Women striker Nikita Parris on Puma's Instagram Live.

'But I don't know if you remember I used to give penalties away…I used to give penalties away!'

'When Edu played his last game for Arsenal and I was battling with Ruud van Nistelrooy for the Golden Boot I gave him the penalty.

'It's because you ask me the question don't get me wrong…but if you look at the number of my assists I gave in the game and sometimes I was in front of the goal and I squared it, that would answer that question [whether he was as obsessed].

'I would not have all those assists if I was only just thinking about the Golden Boot.'

Ferdinand claimed Van Nistelrooy used to be devastated if Henry had scored more goals than him, even if United had won games by three or four goals.

He told the Manchester Evening News: 'Ruud van Nistelrooy used to come in the changing room after a game, trust me, we're trying to win the league, we've beat someone 3-1 or 4-1, he's scored one goal, he'll come in and look up to the TV [shake his head] and go "ohh".

'He sits down, [we'd ask] "Ruud, are you alright, what's wrong?". And he'll reply, "nothing, nothing".

'Then someone will go, "Thierry has scored two today, Ruud has only scored one, so he's a goal behind now".

'And he's sitting there devastated, and you can see it. I used to sit there and think this guy is mad, we just won 3-1, he's scored a banger, set someone up as well, and he's disappointed.'

Scholes had similar memories of the striker, claiming he 'lived for scoring goals'.

'Whenever he did score or didn't score, the first thing he would do when we got on the team bus after the game was see if Thierry Henry scored,' he told United's podcast.

'If Thierry Henry had scored he wouldn't talk to anybody for the full trip home because he was so engrossed in being the leading goalscorer, not just at United but in the league, in the world, everywhere.'

Henry and Van Nistelrooy's battle went on for five successive seasons but it was the Arsenal man who came out on top with four golden boots to the Dutchman's one.