Fans grab Henry during Red Bulls football match

French star Thierry Henry was grabbed and jumped upon by two spectators who ran from the stands during the New York Red Bulls’ 2-2 Major League Soccer draw with 10-man Houston Dynamo.

The former Barcelona and Arsenal star, who set up Colombian Juan Pablo Angel on both New York goals, received his greeting from over-exuberant fans after Houston’s Brian Mullan equalized in the 90th minute to lift Dynamo to a draw.

Moments after the goal, the spectators ran onto the field and confronted Henry at midfield in his US league debut, having already played twice for the Red Bulls in international exhibition matches last week.

“I don?t even know what happened,” Henry told the Houston Chronicle.

The crowd began laughing as stadium security guards tried in vain to grab the men who ran onto the field, one of them jumping on Henry’s back and both evading capture for a while with speed and elusive feints.

Eventually they were apprehended but the comical scene could have easily been a nightmare similar to the infamous incident involving tennis star Monica Seles being stabbed in Germany had the trespassers been wanting to harm Henry.

“It?s a good thing that they weren?t coming to harm (Henry),” said New York midfielder Dane Richards. “That (guard) missed so many tackles from those guys. They are there to protect the players, but it wasn?t there.”

Even with the incident, Henry said he was pleased at the atmosphere of excitement that surrounded the match.

“It was great,” he said. “The pitch was great, the grass amazing. I saw some people were in the Arsenal jerseys and some people were in the Barcelona jerseys. It is great. It was a great atmosphere.”

Henry made the key pass to spark goals from Colombia’s Angel in the 10th and 58th minute, put two shots on goal and another off the crossbar in the 42nd minute but he could not claim a victory over a team that has not won since May.

“The result was a bit bad for us because of the late goal,” Henry said. “I think Juan Pablo and I played well.”

The Red Bulls, now 8-6 with three drawn, opened the scoring when Henry set up Angel in the 10th but the Dynamo equalized on a Brad Davis penalty kick in the 24th minute.

Davis went high on a second penalty kick in the 39th minute as the teams reached half-time deadlocked, although Houston’s Lovel Palmer was ejected in the 44th minute for a hard foul, leaving Dynamo a man down for the second half.

Angel’s second goal put the Red Bulls ahead 2-1 with 32 minutes remaining but Mullan snatched a victory for the visitors away at the death, Houston moving to 5-8 with five drawn.

The match came amid reports New York will sign Mexican defender Rafael Marquez, released Saturday from his contract by Spanish champion Barcelona. The Red Bulls have called a Tuesday news conference to announce a player signing.