Henry: Now we must make sure we qualify

Thierry Henry revealed that he was almost forced off with a hamstring injury during Arsenal's 5-1 demolition of Internazionale but adrenalin kept him going to stay on and score his second goal.

He explained: "Back pain and the injury bothered me at the beginning. Before I scored the second goal I wanted to come off. But when the ball came to me and I saw the space, I wanted to go for it. So I just went."

The inspirational French striker was applauded off the pitch by the usually partisan Milanese crowd when he went off in the 89th minute. Was it his most memorable match for Arsenal? "Yes, possibly. But last season we won 3-1 at Roma and everyone was saying the same things. This time, we just want to make sure we get through to the next stage.

"At Highbury, Milan were better than us when they won 3-0. They had more desire, more commitment. In Italy, we had those things. We played as team and we didn't ever accept it was all over. If Ashley Cole hadn't scored that goal against Dynamo Kiev, we would have been out. Now we are back in it. But we could still go out and although we will enjoy this moment, we have to stay down to earth. We won in Milan but nothing else. We are not through.

"But, yes, it was a big relief because everyone was waiting for a performance like that from us.

"When you wear that red and white shirt, you have to play like it is your last ever game. Now we have to make sure that we qualify."

He said the team had received a good luck message from injured captain Patrick Vieira before the game. Henry added: "We are doing it all for him. We are missing him and it shows.