I Guess I Miss(ed) You (Amandine Henry OLPlay Exit Interview)
I think two things can be true at the same time: there is a legitimate debate as to whether Amandine Henry forged Olympique Lyonnais into her image or whether Olympique Lyonnais forged Amandine Henry into their own; and Amandine Henry fucked over the love of her life out of spite. The two are not mutually exclusive. In some ways, it's what makes this love affair so messy and complex. Isn't that how all proper breakups go?
Sonia Bompastor has a ton of faults but if we're being honest with each other, everything that she has said about Amandine Henry's attitude towards Lyon thus far has been correct. I don't think Sonia Bompastor is a particularly good coach. I also think she was telling the truth about Amandine Henry.
Anyway. As I said, when a relationship has lasted as long as Henry's did with Lyon, it was only going to end one of two ways: cemented in stone as Telefoot predicted back in 2015, or messy, bitter, and complicated. As Taylor Swift once mused, "did this love affair maim you, too?"
Based on the exit interview, both Lyon and Amandine Henry would probably answer as follows: yes, it did.
Two vindictive sociopaths wanting to keep score on the other? How could you not look at that and think, well, yeah, of course it would end this way. Neither party really knows what their life will look like now that the other walked out of it completely. If we're being honest, neither party wants to.
Alexa, play "I Hope" by Gabby Barnett.
AMANDINE HENRY OLPLAY INTERVIEW
Henry: Well we are here today to say goodbye. Not farewell but goodbye because I will soon be leaving the club. It's been 16 years that I have been at Lyon. And yeah, it's time for me to spread my wings and fly away, and sign with another club. And obviously it won't be in France, but in the United States, in Los Angeles. And I am happy to have experienced all these years at Lyon. And I'm happy to try new things elsewhere.
Timothee: This was a really important page in your life, I can imagine.
Henry: Oh yeah, yeah. It was a big part of my life. 16 years, it's not nothing. I came as a little girl [she was 17], and now I am leaving as a woman. So I learned a lot of things, be it on the field but also a lot off of it. I, yeah, I matured. I also caught the Lyon DNA, the winning mentality. I have won an enormous amount of trophies with the club, with all the players, all the coaches. So yeah. There's a lot of emotion.
Timothee: Do you know the number of games you played for Lyon? [Henry exhales] Roughly?
Henry: 360?
Timothee: There are six too many, 354.
Henry: 354, yeah.
Timothee: You're third behind Wendie [Renard] and Eugenie [Le Sommer].
Henry: Yeah.
Timothee: It shows the extent you wore this jersey, the extent to which you made your mark in this history of this club.
Henry: I don't know if I made history. But in any case I was here for a long time. 350 games, sorry, 354 games, it went quickly. But things definitely happened. And yeah it hasn't really sunk in for me. I think it will only sink for me later. But yeah. Between the Champions League, all the Coupe de France, the leagues.. There was a lot of things.
Timothee: Well, unfortunately the last time we saw you on the field, I think a lot of people were afraid after they saw the images. Me included, you included as well I imagine. Is everything better now?
Henry: Yeah, the knee is healed, everything is good. [Note that Le Progres had reported that Henry was fit to play the last games of the season but refused to do so because she didn't want to risk injuring herself before the transfer to Angel City]. I can play again, no worries. It's true that I was more scared than anything else. But that's also part of your career as a player.
Timothee: That's good to hear. It doesn't happen often so I guess we'll take it. When you came here as a 17-year-old, did you expect you would only leave 16 years later, with more than 350 games played and I think 30 trophies if my maths is correct.
Henry: No. No, I didn't imagine that would happen at all. When I arrived, I remember I came here for the first time with my parents, I had just left Clairefontaine [French national football academy]. And actually I cried. I was crying and my parents were like "why?" And I was like, "well this means I am never coming home." And I think that's when I understood that Lyon would become my life. I didn't think it would be 16 years though. 16 years is a lifetime, if we're being honest. And now I think I am going to cry because I'm leaving. But - [Henry's voice cracks]
Timothee: It's half your life, exactly.
Henry: [voice cracking] Yeah. Yeah, that's huge.
Timothee: It's huge when we look at how the story got to this point. There are so many clips of wins, so many clips of happiness. It's pretty exceptional. I imagine you realize that.
Henry: No, I don't think I've really let it sink it, because I'm still involved in it. I think it will be once my career is over, when I've retired, that I will be like "it's true, we've experienced so much together, all the players, these exceptional teams." [Henry's voice cracks again] And the Champions Leagues, obviously. The first one we won together. And as you said, there was an enormous amount of sacrifices, but yeah, it was all worth it, because - yeah. Beyond the trophies, it's about emotions. Those will stay with you.
Timothee: That first Champions League, the first one Lyon won. Can you tell us about it? When we talk to players about it, they all say that that one was special. If I remember correctly, the previous year, it was complicated for you.
Henry: Yeah, I missed the penalty. If I had scored we would have won.
Timothee: And then that happened.
Henry: And then we won. And when you win it for the first time, it's exceptional. I remember it was at Fulham. When we scored, the celebrations after. All the players, all the staff. Yeah. The Board of Directors were there, the employees. It was a moment of glory.
Timothee: In reality you had a pretty symbolic career in women's football. You experienced it all. You experienced the beginnings when everything was just becoming professional, Lyon's rise as a powerhouse, you were there for that. Well it was in part thanks to you. The media aspect. You saw all that grow.
Henry: Well I remember, when I came as a 17-year-old, we didn't even have our own locker room. We had to go home with our stuff. It wasn't even professional contracts. And then there was the big stadium, everything became professional, there was a massive evolution at Lyon. When I look at when I arrived and now when I'm leaving, a lot of things changed.
Timothee: You were really at the core, everything happened in front of your eyes.
Henry: Yeah, I experienced all that.
Timothee: You witnessed it all. Do you realize that you made history? Well, Olympique Lyonnais Feminin made history. But you as well. You're part of the names written in the history books.
Henry: I don't know. I hope Lyon won't forget me, because I will remember everything I experienced. After, we're all just anecdotes. But I think our names will be in the history books because we were first players at Lyon to have won the Champions League, and won so many trophies. And I don't know - well I hope I made a good lasting impression.
Timothee: I don't think Lyon will forget you. It's important to highlight it wasn't always smooth sailing, and there was a severe knee injury early on which could have ended your career. It's a story you've told before, but it's important to remember it's something you had to go through.
Henry: Yeah. When I came to Lyon, they detected a cartilage problem in knee in the first year I was there. I had to be operated on. And when I met the surgeon, he said that the operation wasn't standard and that I might never be able to play professional football again. And maybe that's what motivated me, because I got it in my head that if you want to do something, your body will follow. But it wasn't easy, that's for sure. It was a roll of the dice. Either I came back or I wouldn't be able to play again.
Timothee: Do you think that's what forged your mentality, the one we know you for?
Henry: Oh yeah. That's for sure, because if you say I'm not going to play football again, you're taking away my reason for living. It was everything to me. I was living, breathing football. And yeah that shapes you, because you know you're so close to not be able to play football again. In those difficult moments you just have to say to yourself there are worse things in life, and that you haven't done all this for nothing.
Timothee: And exactly, that mental strength that you have, it's what makes you stand out. It allowed you to have some exceptional performances, with always that will to win and that ability to basically play at any position. It can't always be easy as a player, because you're the one that has to bail the team out, but you're also in a team, and that's really valuable. It's so important to have players like that.
Henry: Yeah, it's true that I have played a lot of different positions. But after, it was to help out the team so I was happy to do it. And after, it's also the Lyon DNA. You do what it takes to win. You can ask any player who has been here, you can tell there are moral values that have been passed on. That desire to win is so engrained in you, even for the smallest thing, the smallest thing in practice, the smallest practice game, you have to want to win. And that's what the Lyon DNA is.
Timothee: And what would you makes you able to play basically any position?
Henry: No, I can help out, but - I mean, I tried. I think that when you like football, you learn to adapt. And I was well surrounded as well. I had good teammates, good coaches who gave me confidence.
Timothee: You're also a player who shows up in big games. I remember the games last year, the double confrontation against PSG in the Champions League. You just show up in big games. How do you explain that ability to step up in the big games?
Henry: Because you have to push yourself. When you're playing the big games, you're often in the big stadiums, the pitch is perfect. There's everything in place to play a big game. So that's it. It's simple really, when I leave the hotel and we're heading towards the stadium, even in the bus, that's where I think everything comes into play. During the trip, my heart starts racing, you're feeling all the emotions, and then you go into automatic pilot. And that's why I like football, it's for the big games.
Timothee: The more important the game, the stronger the emotions. In reality it changes you.
Henry: Yeah, exactly. That's it. It's - yeah.
Timothee: And of course, the perfect example of that is the final [against Barcelona].
Henry: Yeah, that.
Timothee: And that unbelievable goal. I went crazy over that goal. Can you tell us about it?
Henry: Actually, as soon as I won the ball I knew I was going to shoot. I said to myself, take the shot, just take the shot. If it goes wide then it goes wide, if it goes in then even better. And when I scored, I remember that the families were seated on the other side, so I wanted to run over there, but it was too far, and the players were stopped me halfway. And I just let it all out, because the season had been so hard mentally because of all the injuries the team had been subjected to, and all that. And for me personally as well it had been hard [Henry had had to play CB which she hates, being left out the French National Team, etc]. And I just let it all out. And I'll be honest, for the next 5-10 minutes I found it so hard to get back into the game. And I really had just let everything out on that goal. Everything was let out all at once. And it was just the accumulation of everything. And then it was Barcelona, everyone was saying they were favorites, everyone was saying Lyon was finished, etc. So yeah. I let everything out when I took that shot.
Timothee: I understand. It explains the power, you really put everything into it.
Henry: Yeah. Everything was there. It's something you only see in your dreams. You're in the final of the Champions League against Barcelona and you take a shot like that. I didn't really believe it myself.
Timothee: What are the moments that stand out for you in your time at Lyon?
Henry: Well first of all when I first signed with Lyon when I was 17. It was such a huge moment for me, I was going to play with the best players in France, even in the world. I was playing next to Camille Abily, Louisa Necib, there were a lot of big names. So I couldn't believe it. So I said to myself, this is where it begins. And then there was the first Champions League final that we won. That was a really big moment. After, I'm not sure I'm really allowed to say this, but the celebrations at Saint-Tropez, with the players. (#DrunkOL). And then all the league trophies, the moments shared with the players in the locker room, the trips. There's a lot of things.
Timothee: It's interesting how the group evolves but there is something that stays year after year. The team changes and evolves, new players come in, but the integration seems to really work. It works because we feel each year that the group is special, that each win is special, and it's also a team win.
Henry: Yeah, it's because I don't think that people realize there are enormous sacrifices during the season. It's long, it's so long. You often have lingering injuries, loss of confidence. Sometimes it's this player, something it's that one. And sometimes it's like a family, because we're together sometimes 14 hours a day. We see each other more than our families. So you have to have solidarity. And if we want to win, if we want to continue winning, that DNA has to be passed on. All the groups we've had, that's why they've been successful, the Lyon DNA.
Timothee: And each year you have new players who are integrated. Last year it was Lindsey [Horan], whom you already knew really well. It must have been nice to have her here. And you maybe already knew it, but she came in, we saw her play some excellent games from the beginning, but you already knew she could do that.
Henry: Yeah, I played with her in Portland. I already knew she was a great person, so that's important, and a superb player as well. So I wasn't surprised to see her shine.
Timothee: What can you tell us about your future? You already mentioned the next club. What is the future going to look like for you?
Henry: Yeah, so I signed with Los Angeles [Angel City]. In the short term, there's the World Cup coming up. I hope to be a part of it. So that's the short term. After -
Timothee: It would be nice to be a part of it.
Henry: For sure. After everything I went through as well. Winning it would be nice as well.
Timothee: While we're at it.
Henry: Yeah. There's Los Angeles [Angel City], which I want to commit to as well. It will allow me to prepare myself for after I retire, bring my English back and get all that in order. And I hope to become a mother in the next few years as well.
Timothee: You already an American adventure when you were in Portland. You liked it enough to return.
Henry: Yeah. Beyond the football, it was a superb experience, you learn so much, a new culture, a new way of working. And then the US - well, it's Los Angeles, so I think it'll be a nice place.
Timothee: On a personal level, it's a big thing as well. That's football as well. And Lyon was that as well, somewhere where you experienced so much as a person. So there's a part of you that's looking for some more. But I imagine that it's important in sports to also have the personal element.
Henry: Yeah. For me it's almost fundamental. If you win a trophy but you don't feel anything, something's wrong. As I was telling you earlier, it's what you remember. And in Los Angeles [Angel City], it's a club that's starting to evolve, it's barely two years old, their history is only beginning to be written. So I hope I can contribute to it.
Timothee: And bring all of your experience, and your knowledge of how to win.
Henry: I hope so.
Timothee: Is there anything you'd like to add? Something you'd like to say before we wrap up?
Henry: [voice cracks] I would like to say thank you. Thank you to all my teammates, all the staff members, everyone who has supported me, who encouraged me, who allowed me to be here today. [Henry starts crying] And thank you to Lyon, really. The Lyon family. And I hope to be back one day. That's it.
Timothee: Well we're far from being able to forget you. And I think that for everyone who has followed Lyon, it's up to us to say thank you. Thank you for everything you have done for the club, Amandine.
Henry: Thank you.
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