Szczesny´s pending challenge against Madrid

During the past season, FC Barcelona played four matches against Real Madrid, winning all of them. This weekend, the first of the new campaign between both giants of Spanish football will take place, and in the Barcelona goal, Wojciech Szczesny will be back, who still has an outstanding account with the Madrid team.

An unexpected return

The Polish goalkeeper reversed his decision to retire from professional football when Barça called him to cover the long absence of Marc-André ter Stegen. He arrived in Barcelona at the beginning of October and made his debut three months later, once he regained competitive form. He did not participate in the first league clásico —the memorable 0-4 at the Santiago Bernabéu— but did defend the goal in the next three: the Supercopa de España final, the Copa del Rey final, and the 35th matchday of LaLiga.

Debut with ups and downs

In those three matches, Barça achieved victory, although Szczesny´s debut in a clásico left a bittersweet taste. The culés were crowned Supercopa champions in Arabia after a resounding 2-5 victory over Real Madrid. The goalkeeper was, however, sent off at the beginning of the second half, when the score was 1-5. Rodrygo masterfully converted the resulting free kick, leaving the final score at 2-5. The rhythm shown by Barça until the red card suggested one of the biggest defeats in clásico history, but that expulsion halted the dominance of Hansi Flick´s team. Later, Szczesny faced Madrid again in the Copa final, where Barça once again lifted the title after a tight 3-2 in extra time. In the second league clásico, the azulgranas won 4-3, coming close to mathematically sealing the league title.

Objective: keep the goal clean

For this fourth clásico, Szczesny´s challenge is clear: keep his goal at zero. In the three previous encounters, he has conceded six goals, five of which were scored by Kylian Mbappé and the other by Tchouaméni during the cup final. Before his time at Barcelona, the goalkeeper had also faced Real Madrid as a player for Roma and Juventus. With the Italian team from the capital, he played in the round of 16 of the 2015/16 Champions League, losing 0-2 in both matches. With Juve, he conceded a penalty goal in the last minute that prevented the bianconeri from advancing to the next round.

Return to the Santiago Bernabéu

This Sunday, Szczesny will return to the Bernabéu pitch seven years later, reliving memories of his time at Juventus. His last appearance at the white stadium was in the return leg of the quarter-finals of the 2017/18 Champions League. At that time, Gianluigi Buffon was sent off for protesting a penalty awarded in the last moment, after equalizing the 0-3 from the first leg. Szczesny entered the field replacing Gonzalo Higuaín, but failed to stop Cristiano Ronaldo´s shot, allowing Madrid to advance to the semifinals in a match remembered for one of the most controversial refereeing performances in recent years. In summary, the Polish goalkeeper´s record against Real Madrid is four wins and two losses, with a total of 11 goals conceded. This Sunday, he will seek to settle the score and seal his first clásico without conceding goals.