Secret meeting with Pep Guardiola improved Thierry Henry's Barça form

Pep Guardiola revealed, in an interview with L'Equipe, that a private meeting with Thierry Henry helped turn the striker's fortunes around during his stay at Barcelona. 

The Catalan coach said he "sensed Thierry wasn't quite right, that there were issues and that he was a little closed off." For that reason, the then Barça boss called him up and invited him to talk.

Guardiola went on to explain: "We spent several hours in a cafe and we spoke a lot. We spoke about everything that was concerning him and his life in general - hardly anything about football."

And the Bayern Munich manager feels that meeting proved very important for Henry. "After the meeting, his performances began to progress," Pep continued. "He'd had problems adapting to a new country, a new culture, a new mentality."

Henry and Guardiola haven't lost contact since. In the same interview, Pep confirmed he had seen the Frenchman while he was living in New York City: "Thierry was really good with my family; he showed us the city, helped us find a school for my kids."

Finally, the Bayern boss rated Henry's form in the MLS: "I was surprised by his level of play. The last time I saw him [play] was last summer in a friendly and he was very good. I told him he's still capable of playing for a few more years," he concluded.