Thierry Henry claims Robert Pires "lost his composure" in Arsenal penalty gaffe

Thierry Henry claims Robert Pires "lost his composure" during their famous penalty gaffe against Manchester City.

Arsenal beat their opponents 1-0 back in 2005 courtesy of a second-half Pires penalty.

However when the Gunners were awarded a second penalty at Highbury two of their French stars attempted to reenact a spot kick routine first made famous by Dutch legend Johan Cruyff.

Rather than shooting one player would lay it off for their teammate to run on and finish.

Henry and Pires had practiced the trick several times in training but couldn't pull it off in the match.

Arsenal's legendary No 14 claims the penalty should've been retaken because Pires never made contact with the ball but also confessed he could've swapped roles with his teammate.

Robert Pires and Thierry Henry attempted to pull off an audacious penalty routine

"That penalty should have been retaken, because the ball never moved from the spot," Henry told Sky Sports.

"It didn't, and I don't know what the ref did or what Danny Mills was doing.

"On that one, the only mistake I did was I didn't do it. I should have passed it to Robert. We did it so many times in training, but in training everything is easy.

"I thought the big man Robert wouldn't have lost his composure. But he did. I don't know why he tried to roll it.

"If the goalkeeper went diving maybe I would have dummied it, but maybe I would have passed it back to Robert."

Henry came out to face the cameras after he and Pires had fluffed the chance to make the game safe.

He admitted it was his idea as he attempted to laugh off the incident before saying: "I don't know why his leg went numb."

Arsene Wenger, with a wide smile on his face, was able to see the funny side of it.

Robert Pires fluffed his lines as his teammate ran on

He said: "Its part of the game to make these kinds of mistakes. He's a lucky boy because the team has not been punished."

Former City defender Sylain Distin said afterwards that their attempt felt a little bit "disrespectful".

Wenger responded: "You could interpret it like that but you have to analyse the intention. The intention was not to be respectful the intention was to score a goal."

Henry also added: "Cruyff did it, everyone went ballistic when he did it at Ajax, I think you have to remember it wasn't a lack of respect to anyone. Football is a game, people forget it's also entertaining."

Was Arsenal's penalty routine disrespectful? Have your say in the comments.

Despite Henry being Arsenal's all-time top goalscorer he often surrendered penalty duties.

A host of his teammates stepped up, something that never bothered him.

"I gave a lot of penalties away to Edu on his last game, Lauren took some," the Frenchman added.

"When the foul was on me I also gave it away. I didn't have a problem [with others taking them], but it was my choice."