Henry target of racial slur

Thierry Henry has been caught up in a race row involving his Arsenal colleague Jose Antonio Reyes and Spain coach Luis Aragones.

The 66-year-old manager tried to motivate Reyes during training yesterday by insisting that he was a better player than his club-mate, whom he did not refer to by name.

Going head-to-head with Reyes, Aragones shouted in his face: "Some players have to see things more clearly. Tell that black s**t that you are better than him. Tell him from me. You have to believe in yourself; you're better than that black s**t."

The comments were overheard by journalists and broadcast on Spanish television last night.

Aragones denied charges of racism and insisted that his comments had been a joke aimed at psyching up Reyes ahead of Spain's World Cup qualifier against Belgium in Santander on Saturday.

"The fact that I made a joke in order to motivate a player has nothing to do with being racist. I'm not a racist."

Reyes said: "He was just having a bit of a laugh and it was nothing important. Luis and myself know who we were talking about and there was nothing more to it."