Thierry Henry scored the winner on his Barcelona debut last night when the Spanish side beat  Dundee United 1-0 in a pre-season friendly at Tannadice.

The French international, who joined Barca from Arsenal last month, had a last minute penalty parried by United's Polish keeper Grzegorz Szamotulski, but slotted home the rebound.

The Frenchman came on for Samuel Eto'o for the second half.

"We have seen he is an intelligent player and we have seen some good passes," team manager Frank Rijkaard said.

"We have to take into account he has not played for a long time and it was his decision to go and play. He played well."

Henry had only been on the pitch for 25 seconds when he fired a 16-yard shot inches wide.

Barcelona came close to a first half opener when Ronaldinho crashed a free off the post in the 18th minute.

Henry's new team-mate Deco said he enjoyed the competitive spirit in which the game was played.

He said: "Dundee United are very strong team, and this is going to be very good season for them. They worked hard as a team and were very good physically in front of their own fans.

"I am really looking forward to the game against Hearts, because these are the games that will help us get ready for next season."