I have four soccer jerseys in my closet. Three of them are Arsenal jerseys. Two of them bear the name and number of Thierry Henry, who scored more goals than anyone in Arsenal’s 126-year history. Henry was the brightest star in the Arsenal firmament during his years at the club, 1999-2007; I came in as a fan in the middle of that period, and so it was natural that he’d become my favorite player.

He left for Barcelona at the end of 2007, and then moved on to New York, where he’s played the past two years for the Red Bulls in MLS. He scored fifteen goals for New York last year, one away from the league lead, but at the age of 34 he seemed firmly on the downside of his career. Arsenal even went so far as to unveil a statue of him outside their stadium, an event at which the striker broke down in tears. He was, and I suppose is, a firm part of the club’s storied past.

And the past is past. Except when it isn’t. MLS is in its offseason, and so a few weeks ago, Henry – fresh off a vacation in Mexico – returned to London to get a few training sessions in with his old club. Arsenal are currently struggling to find anyone who can score a goal, and so last week the club convinced the old man to make a two-month return. The papers were signed late last week, just in time for Henry to be allowed into the squad for Monday’s FA Cup game against Leeds.

I think the crowd probably would have liked to see Henry in the starting lineup. They probably would have liked to see Patrick Vieira and Sol Campbell and Robert Pires and the rest of the group that won two league titles and three FA Cups between 2002 and 2005, too. Arsenal haven’t won a trophy of any kind since that 2005 FA Cup, and Henry’s return felt like a blast from a happier past. But he began on the bench. And Arsenal couldn’t find the back of the net. And so, with a quarter of the match remaining, Henry returned to a hero’s welcome, with the score tied 0-0 and Leeds defending desperately.

In the movies, Henry accepts the crowd’s adulation, and then scores the game-winner. And I suppose that’s the reason that it was so sweet when that’s exactly what happened.

We’ll probably never again see the head-turning speed that allowed Henry to score 226 goals for Arsenal. Leeds are in the second division now, a lower-league team playing on the road in a third-round FA Cup match, desperately hoping to hang on for the scoreless draw that would earn them a replay of the game at home, so it’d be easy to argue that this goal was meaningless, or devalued, or a fluke.

But for one moment, Henry again found space behind the defense, and just like old times, he opened up his front shoulder and curled the ball inside the far post, almost more of a pass than a shot. It’s a goal Arsenal fans cheered a hundred times before and were certain they’d never see again. And in that moment it was 2004 again and Highbury exploded with noise and Arsenal took the lead and won the league and raised the cup.

Don’t believe what they say. The past isn’t dead. It’s not even past. You can go home again.