Wojciech Szczesny managed to distinguish himself on Wednesday evening despite a 2-0 defeat with Poland against Argentina. The 32-year-old goalkeeper from Juventus took a penalty from Lionel Messi in the first half, but lost a hundred euros as a result. After the game, Szczesny indicated that he had made a bet with the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner.
At the end of the first half, referee Danny Makkelie – on the advice of video referee Pol van Boekel – put the ball at eleven meters. Szczesny missed a cross from the left flank and hit Messi lightly on the face while trying to box the ball away. The Polish closing post was convinced that Makkelie would not give a penalty and therefore made a bet with Messi. “I spoke to him before the penalty and said I wanted to bet €100 that the referee would not give a penalty.”
Wojciech Szczesny on his bet with Lionel Messi ????pic.twitter.com/kJhf4SU0Fh
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) November 30, 2022
Makkelie did. “I lost that bet,” laughs Szczesny. “The referee decided otherwise and that’s fine. That allowed me to show myself again.” The ex-goalkeeper of Arsenal and AS Roma, among others, stopped a penalty kick from Salem Al-Dawsari in the match won against Saudi Arabia (2-0) and therefore more than lives up to his name as a penalty killer in this tournament. However, Messi does not have to send Szczesny a tag for the bet won. “I’m really not going to pay him, you know. I don’t think Messi has to worry about a hundred euros,” the goalkeeper laughs.
Despite the defeat against Argentina, Poland managed to qualify for the eighth finals of the World Cup on goal difference. The country therefore survives the group stage of a global final tournament for the first time since 1986. “This is very big. You should have seen the dressing room,” says Szczesny. “Everyone is tired. We didn’t have enough energy to celebrate afterwards. It’s a dream come true. We can play one more game and we will give everything. This duel lasted five hours for me, but we are through. It doesn’t matter how we did it.” Poland will play the round of 16 against France on Sunday afternoon.
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