From Thierry Henry’s knee slide to Mathieu Valbuena’s slip, decoding an iconic celebration | OneFootball

The knee-slide celebration endures in 2026, iconic since Thierry Henry’s surge and slide against Tottenham on 16 November 2002, now cast in bronze outside the Emirates. L'Équipe notes its lasting pull.

Henry has said it came naturally at Arsenal, helped by England’s wet pitches. He maintains it was not copied, though he recalls Lee Sharpe celebrating similarly for Manchester United.

The fashion keeps spreading. In Ligue 1, Strasbourg’s Joaquin Panichelli slid after the opener at Lille, 4-1 on matchday 19, and Le Havre’s 19-year-old Kenny Quetant did so after his first top-flight goal against Angers, 2-1 on matchday 17.

Didier Drogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Antoine Griezmann, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé have amplified the mimicry. Performance adviser Charles Debris argues players feel at home on grass and naturally drop to their knees, and he sees little deep psychology at play.

For Rodez striker Ibrahima Baldé, it is pure pleasure, often but not always. Shaped by childhood TV, he accepts it can go wrong as easily as right.

Mathieu Valbuena showed the risk during Marseille’s 2-2 with Nice on 11 November 2012. Benoît Cheyrou, now a Ligue 1+ pundit, remembered the teasing that followed, even as team-mates enjoyed the goal.

Baldé says success rests on luck and pitch quality. He avoids dry, damaged turf and says he has not been hurt.

Source: L'Équipe