Wojciech Szczesny did not have the easiest start to life at Barcelona, but after biding him time, he has now established himself as the starting goalkeeper for Hansi Flick. Aside from matches against Real Betis and Getafe, the Polish veteran has started every match that the Catalans have played in 2025.
Szczesny joined Barcelona in September after Marc-Andre Ter Stegen suffered a season-ending knee injury. He came out of retirement to make the move, which he reflected on during an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport).
“I retired because I couldn’t find a project to get excited about, but I felt it was too exciting an opportunity to turn down. I came without the expectation of playing, I had only been playing golf for two months. I saw my destiny here.”
Szczesny spent nine years of his career playing in Italy (AS Roma 2015-17, Juventus 2017-24), and he reflected on the differences between there and Spain in a footballing sense.
“The importance of being one goal up is less than in Italy, here they continue to attack, it’s impressive. The other day we won 7-1 (against Valencia) and all my teammates were celebrating. Me too, but I was annoyed because they scored a goal against me. On a tactical level, Italy is a little ahead, but on a technical level Spain is much more advanced. There are more goals here, it’s not all so organised.”
Szczesny was also asked about his thoughts on Barcelona teammate Lamine Yamal, who continues to amaze at the age of 17.
“He is the greatest technical talent I have seen in my life. I have not seen anyone do the things he does in training. With him and the younger players, the energy they transmit is very nice, I have a lot of fun with them.”
