The keeper of Barça, ecstatic after winning his second title with the club he returned for.
With the Copa del Rey -final against Real Madrid, Wojciech Szczesny completed his 26th game for FC Barcelona, after a retirement after the serious injury Van Ter Stegen and answering the call from the club shortly after announcing his decision to withdraw from professional football. Although this Saturday, April 26, he admitted two goals in the Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid, Barça scored three, which means that the 35-year-old former Polish international has good memories of this night in Sevilla, who marked Barça's 32nd Copa del Rey Title. For Szczesny it is his second trophy with Barça – the first also came against Real Madrid, in the supercopa of January in Saudi Arabia. On that occasion he was sent in the second half, although Barça Madrid still crushed 5-2.
With Ter Stegen back on the bank after restoring his injury, Szczesny received congratulations from the captain on the La Cartuja field. Despite the early doubts under Barça fans about signing a goalkeeper who had already retired in October, the songs from Szczesny have been almost impeccable: in the 26 games he played, Barça only lost once -a 3-1 defeat in Dortmund in the Champions League had no. won. His record is on 22 victories, 3 draws and 1 loss, with 13 clean sheets and only 26 goals admitted.
Although he was beaten by a well -battered free kick by Kylian Mbappé and a header by Aurélien Tchouaméni in the second half, Szczesny made various crucial rescues and intercepted key behind the defense of Barça. Opta statistics confirmed that he won 5 possessions and showed strong control over space and positioning, even when Barça played far from his goal. The most important thing is that he made 5 important saves when Real Madrid crowded hard in the second half.
In a system such as Barça's role, the role of Szczesny in the accumulated game was the key: of the 45 actions during the game, 34 passes during the structure, with 31 successful, with a fitting accuracy of 91.2%. Already a triple Coppa Italia winner with Juventus, who lifted a Copa del Rey-Trophy with Barça against Real Madrid was an unforgettable performance for someone who, given his veteran status, does not often experience new emotions on the football field.
In the meantime, Thibaut Courtois, usually the hero of the final, was exposed more this time than his opposite number. Although the Belgian international made six Saves, he gave three goals and struggled with his distribution – of the 33 passes, only 18 were successful, giving him a pass accuracy of 54.5%.