Szczesny: Who said that the smoker cannot become a hero?

. If it weren't for the loss to Dortmund in the Champions League not long ago, Szczesni would tie with club legend John Cruyff for the third place in Barcelona's unbeaten career start record (23 games), with the top two being Fabregas (30 games) and Paulinho (25 games).

Schchensni currently plays 25 times for Barcelona and concedes 24 goals, including 13 of which are clean sheets of opponents. Questions about whether he can defend the goal in Barcelona, ​​who likes to defend the high position, have dissipated.

"This team is completely different from other teams in Europe right now," said Szczesni. "Their style of play is very extreme. It's a high-risk, high-reward game, I've never played on a team like this. Can I adapt? It takes a process."

"When you risk guarding the goal behind the high defense, it's inevitable that you make mistakes. That mistake happened in the third game I participated in, and I was sent off, but I accepted it."

"I'm not here to play a conservative game, I'm just trying to do what the team needs, and the team needs a goalkeeper who has the courage to make tough decisions."

Barcelona fans like him, even though they always sing "Szczesni" to him. This is actually an hinting that he publicly admitted that he was smoking.

Not long ago, at Lewandowski's birthday party, Szczesny's wife Anna posted a photo with her husband on social media, in which Szczesny was wearing a hat with a scribble of "smoke ghost" scribbling under the brim of the hat. Earlier this year, in a long interview, Szczesny also joked that someone owed him a "big thank-you gift" because he "had not smoked for a full 90 minutes."

Once in an interview, Szczesny couldn't help but blurt out, praising the team for sometimes letting him have more things on the court than less. "This makes my job much easier because they try hard to defend, they block every shot from the opponent, they win every tackle, they compete for every header, and I really don't have much to do, so just smoke a cigarette."

Schchensny admitted that smoking was a bad habit. He said he would rather not talk about it than others imitate him, but he didn't want to lie to give others a good impression. The source described in detail how Szczesny's honesty and personality quickly won the respect of his teammates, although he still doesn't understand why teammates like Pedri would praise him for his humor in the locker room.

"It's hard for me to explain to you why I'm so funny, because that would turn into a talk show," Szczesny replied when asked at a press conference. "I don't think Pedri knows English very well, so I don't understand why he said that. I just try to be myself."

Few players can maintain this attitude these days. Many people tend to be cautious and try to disclose their information as little as possible, but Szczesny is outspoken, funny and not taking himself too seriously. At the same press conference, a reporter mentioned that if Ter Stegen is ready for the game before the end of the season, he may lose his main position. He responded: "If you don't warm up, just go directly to the question-asking session?"

This is in sharp contrast to his calm personality on the court. "You can hardly see him nervous," said Barcelona defender Eric Garcia. "We feel very at ease and safe with him."

Mediation

Schchensni attributes this calm to meditation, which he began when he was loaned to Rome about a decade ago, which was a difficult period in his life. He struggled to deal with the reality that there was no future in Arsenal, and he said he was still a big Arsenal fan. He stepped out of the trough and played for Serie A giant Juventus for seven years, where he studied under club legend Buffon and eventually became the No. 1 goalkeeper for the Old Woman. Today, meditation has become an important part of his pre-match preparation.

"Terstegen's son thought I was sleeping once," he said, "because I was really sitting in a very relaxed position, with my eyes closed. There was always a little confusion before the game, everyone was changing clothes, this was talking, the one with headphones, and I was sitting there, and it looked like I was sleeping."

This is probably the scene in the Barcelona locker room before the game: Yamal will enjoy his role as DJ, encouraging Inigor Martinez to dance to the music of rapper Morad, encouraging Lewandowski to perform the latest songs of reggae singer Ozuna; while Szczesny closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, preparing for the next chapter of his fairy tale comeback.

"Every story has an ending, but in life, every ending is a new beginning." Szczesny wrote on social media when he retired last summer. At that time, he didn't know what this new beginning was, nor when it would come. "There is only time to tell me what this new road will bring to me. But if you say that the past 18 years have taught me anything, it is impossible. Believe me, I will have great dreams!"