New York Red Bulls forward Thierry Henry has claimed that children should not try to copy Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo on the football field.

Henry has said that the likes of Bayern Munich's Thomas Muller should instead be the benchmark for children learning the game.

"Stepovers, tricks, that's not the game," he told reporters.

"The game is what Thomas Muller is doing. If I had a son right now, playing, I would say to him 'look at them, look at [Franck] Ribery, look at Muller.'

"What Ronaldo does, and Messi, they're just freaks. Don't try to copy those guys. You can copy from Ribery, you can copy from Thomas Muller."

Henry has represented the likes of Juventus, Monaco, Arsenal and Barcelona during a decorated playing career.