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Wojciech Szczesny was below the scanner as Barcelona secured a slender but thrilling 5-4 win over SL Benfica final night time.
The Polish goalkeeper, beginning forward of Inaki Pena, had a horrendous begin to the sport as he gave away one aim whereas conceding a penalty.
Szczesny’s largest howler was when he determined to come back out of his line to clear a protracted ball from Benfica. However as an alternative of clearing the ball, he collided with Alejandro Balde, thus permitting Vangelis Pavlidis to attain a aim.
Szczesny explains incident with Balde
A day after Barcelona’s huge win, Szczesny defined his collision with Balde and the way it led to a aim for Benfica.
“I feel the second of the exit was good, however Balde didn’t hear me. Fortunately, it was just one aim and we ended up profitable the match,” Szczesny informed Canal+ (h/t Diario SPORT).
“It was a misunderstanding, however it may well occur as a result of we had been each going for the ball. I shouted and he didn’t hear me. It was a bit humorous, however we ended up profitable,” he added.
Szczesny had a disastrous begin to the sport vs Benfica Picture by Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Photographs)
One other error from the veteran goalkeeper noticed him concede a penalty, which was efficiently put away from Pavlidis.
Explaining the incident, Szczesny admitted it was certainly a penalty. “On the pitch, it appeared to me that there had been no contact, however after watching the replay, it’s a penalty,” he stated.
Szczesny ought to certainly be grateful that Barcelona had been in a position to safe a victory towards Benfica, failing which might have led to some severe retrospection on the Pole’s efficiency.
That is despite the truth that Szczesny really loved an excellent finish to the sport, the place he made some essential saves, notably denying Angel Di Maria from scoring.
In actual fact, Szczesny even acknowledged the save, stating, “It wasn’t the best way to redeem myself. I used to be annoyed and it was my approach of serving to after we had been searching for the victory and defending with solely two gamers.
“We might settle for the 4-4, however we needed the victory. It’s Barça’s tradition. We performed very excessive and the save helped.”
Lastly, Szczesny opened up about his first expertise of working as a goalkeeper in a excessive line of defence.
“I’ve by no means performed with such a excessive defence. Wenger demanded quite a bit from the goalkeeper, however right here the gamers are very removed from me. At 34, you possibly can all the time study. It’s a fantastic expertise,” he concluded.
