Former Arsenal keeper and Polish international Wojciech Szczesny came out of retirement to sign for FC Barcelona on a one-year deal this October.
The keeper started his career in Poland where he played for Agrykola Warsaw and Legia Warsaw before signing for Arsenal in 2006.
After spending three years with the youth side, he finally made his senior debut for the club in the League Cup back in 2009. Szczesny spent eight years at Arsenal, winning two FA Cup trophies before joining Juventus in Italy.
Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was a big fan of the Polish keeper when he arrived at the club, and immediately tipped him to be the Gunners’ future number one.
“We have identified Wojciech as a future great, great goalkeeper… I really believe in him that he will one day be Arsenal’s number one. He has all the qualities you want from a goalkeeper.”
This is similar to what Mikel Arteta did when he had David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale competing for the number one spot.
Szczesny was in goal for Arsenal when they faced FC Barcelona in the Champions League Round of 16 in 2011. Lionel Messi scored twice as the Spanish side advanced, winning the tie 5-2 on aggregate.
The keeper said the prospect of facing Messi back in the day was a scary sight for him:
“I was always scared to play against Leo. There are probably other players who have scored more against me. But he was the only one I was actually afraid to play against. Because he was that good.”
Szczesny was asked about the most memorable save he made against the Argentine, the Barca star replied, “The best or the biggest? That changes. The most satisfying save was Messi’s penalty in the Qatar World Cup, but it wasn’t the best save in my career. The stadium and the rival made that moment very special for me.”
The keeper still has just one win against Messi at club level, with Arsenal in 2011.
According to reports back in 2015, Szczesny was caught smoking in the showers after a defeat at Southampton on New Year’s Day.
The keeper was fined and dropped by then-manager Arsene Wenger in the next game. Szczesny insists there was no bad blood between them after the incident:
“Back at that time I was smoking regularly and the boss knew it very well, He just didn’t want anybody smoking in the dressing rooms and I knew that also.
“Because of the emotion of the game, I had a cigarette after the game when the team was still in. I went in the corner of the showers, so it was at the other end of the dressing room and nobody could see me, and I lit one up.
“Somebody saw me, it wasn’t even the boss himself, and just reported it back to the boss. I saw him a couple of days later, he asked me if that was true and I said, ‘yes’. He fined me and that was the end of it.”
The post FA Cup winner reveals Lionel Messi used to ‘spook’ Arsenal players before games appeared first on Gooner Daily.
