Thierry Henry has Micah Richards close to tears with heartfelt speech live on air

Thierry Henry has Micah Richards close to tears with a heartfelt speech live on air during their CBS Sports Golazo Champions League show.

Henry paid an unscripted tribute to his fellow co-pundit, leaving Micah Richards visibly emotional after acknowledging how Richards had shown a more vulnerable side to him.

Richards was left speechless, taken aback by Thierry’s kind words, and the lovely moment has since gone viral on social media.

A really honest and vulnerable moment from the #UCLToday crew to open today’s show 🥹❤️ pic.twitter.com/Lgfh4JlWs5

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 18, 2026

Transcribed with the help of TurboScribe!

Kate Scott: “Hello, welcome along everyone to our Champions League studio. I’m Kate Scott. Thierry Henry has won everything in football. Clint is the best player in US history.”

Thierry Henry: “Can I interrupt you?”

Kate: “Yeah.”

Thierry: “Can you allow me to be you and carry on, to do the introduction.”

Kate: “Yeah, sure, go for it.”

Thierry: “So we have here Clint Dempsey, right? Soccer, US soccer, sorry, royalty. Yes. And I wanted to say something about Clint, sorry, ladies and gentlemen, is that the human being is way better than the player. And that is a statement from me.”

Clint: “My man.”

Thierry: “And then on the other side over there. We have Micah Richards. I wanted to say something to you. Because yesterday I couldn’t do it. Because it was Kasper’s moment.

“And, you know, yesterday you made me realise something. And actually relate. And I wanted to do that face to face.

“So at the end of my career, as you know, because you know that, Micah, I played 10 years with extreme pain with my Achilles, both sides. But I could finish my career on my terms. And you couldn’t do that.

“So I have the utmost respect for you for dealing with that. I don’t know how you dealt with that mentally. And yet you’re always sitting here, happy, lifting the spirit of everybody and making everyone happy. No, I’m being honest.

“And so, you know, I’m kind of looking at it. And I just wanted to tell you that because we don’t take you for granted.

“No, seriously, I wanted you to know that. Because sometimes you might think that you’re not being seen. And we see you. And I have to say that now you are in my hero bracket.

“And for a very long time. My favourite person, as you always say, was my favourite person on the show was Chloe. For those who don’t know, Chloe is the girl that helps me to do the analysis. And she does it ever so well.

“And I’m sure she won’t mind me saying that you are my favourite on this show. I’ll tell you that. Oh, my goodness.”

Micah: “You got me all emotional. I don’t know what to do. Where do I go from here? What am I talking about? Oh, my goodness.”

Kate: “Can we pick up on that? Because, Micah, I know briefly your story. But I don’t really know the depths of your story. So, what was your situation?”

Micah: “I mean, TT summed it up perfectly. I mean, I’m a positive person. And at the time, I was struggling emotionally, mentally, and all that sort of thing.

“But I just tried to see the positives in life. And that’s what I like to do, uplift people.”

Kate: “How old were you when you got that news?”

Micah: “Well, I had my first operation when I was like 17, 18. And then it carried on for all my career. But then I retired. My last game was when I was 29.”

Kate: “But what was the point that forced you into retirement then?”

Micah: “When I was basically draining fluid from my knee every three days. And, yeah, I knew. And the doctor was saying to me, you’re not going to be able to run around with your kids when they get older.

“So, you need to be careful. I didn’t listen to him. I kept doing it. God, I just love football so much. And then I officially retired when I was 31. My last game was when I was 29.”

Thierry: “No joke. Because we all do that. If you find yourself in a situation where you only have one choice, then you don’t have the choice. That’s the only thing you have and you don’t like. If you have one choice, then you don’t have the choice. Okay? We all have to. In survival mode, you survive. But did you go into some type of depression? Depressing moment?”

Micah: “Yeah, I was definitely depressed.”

Thierry: “Okay, thank you.”

Micah: “No, I was definitely depressed. But I didn’t address it. I sort of just sort of put it to the back of my mind.”

Thierry: “What was your escape?”

Micah: “Drink?”

Kate: “That’s a heavy question.”

Thierry: “No, we’re here. Little bro.”

Micah: “No. I mean, I don’t know how much time we’ve got. But it caught me off guard. I was drinking a lot to sort of mask it.

“I had a good friend, actually. And he sort of put my life into perspective in terms of like, are you happy? Have you got your family around you? It’s not all the other stuff that come around. It was just a facade. You know what I mean?

“It was all the bells and whistles that come with being a professional footballer. But it made me look at life differently in terms of there’s more to life than cars and houses. And it’s about relationships and the people around you. So I definitely looked at things a little bit differently.

“But then, in the end, I’m a positive person. Everyone always says to me, Big Mitch, you can’t always be like that. I’m always like this when I’m tired. You know what I mean?”

Thierry: “You’re never tired, though.”

Micah: :But I don’t know. I like to see the good in people. I always try to uplift people. And that’s just the way I’ve been all my life.

“So as bad as my injury was at the time, and, yes, I was depressed, 100% agree with that. But I tried to look at it in a positive instead of a negative, you know?”

Clint: “I have one question for you. For me, when I was retired and I stepped away from the game for two years, I couldn’t be around it. I couldn’t watch it, right? You needed a little bit of a buffer.

“For you, was there a stop that you had to, like, get away, put it down, not look at it? It was too hard to watch?

“Or, like, how was that balance of closing the chapter on one and then opening the new one and figuring out, okay, what am I going to do now that’s going to bring me some joy or, you know, bring me some happiness? Give me purpose.”

Micah: “I think it was my first punditry. I think punditry helped me a lot because I went from, you know, like this here. It’s perfect. It’s like the dressing room, isn’t it, where you can have the conversations, have fun, talk about football. So it keeps you.

“And I had a chance to go coaching. I had a chance to go into punditry. And I went to go do one. And I absolutely loved it.

“And from then, I was just like, ooh, I can see myself doing this for a long time. If I didn’t have this right now, I couldn’t tell you how I’m feeling.

“But in terms of staying in the game, yeah, this has definitely helped me a lot. And you see a lot of ex-pros now find it difficult.

“But for me, like I said, I always try to see the positive in things.”

Thierry: “Yeah, bro, sorry for pushing you. And I know we went a bit deep there. But you know what? It’s important to tell also people the other side of the game and the mental aspect of it because people can relate to pain. They cannot relate to what we have achieved some time in pain. They can relate to it. So thank you.”