“Guess who’s back? Back again.” Barcelona boasted on social media about Joan García’s form with a fine save during a training session for Hansi Flick’s team during the international break, and Wojciech Szczesny celebrated his teammate’s performance to the tune of Eminem’s song Without Me. “Guess who’s back? Back again,” sang the Polish goalkeeper. It was Szczesny’s way of celebrating the recovery of Joan García, who is already working alongside his teammates and should be in the starting eleven against Athletic this Saturday. A party for all of Barcelona.
Those who follow the daily life of the Barça dressing room say that the morning after the match against Oviedo (1-3), when the medical service informed Joan García that he would be out for about a month and a half due to the rupture of the internal meniscus in his left knee, Szczesny seemed sadder than Joan García. His sad attitude contrasted with the joy and good vibes that the Pole usually brings to the Barça group. Jokingly, one of the Barça players blurted out: “Come on, come on, it’s your turn to play, Tek.” The irony made the rest of the classmates laugh. “The pensioner wants to feel comfortable, we believe he also likes the bench more”, they explain from the sports area.
Last season, Szczesny was enjoying a quiet retreat in Malaga when, in the middle of a round of golf, Deco called him to offer him a place at Barcelona following Ter Stegen’s injury. From the beginning, the Pole joined the Barça squad to become Iñaki Peña’s replacement. But Hansi Flick did not fully trust the young Barça player and as soon as Szczesny recovered physically, he handed him the keys to the Barça door. “If you say no to Barça it means you don’t have the balls and you don’t have the courage for a challenge like this. You don’t have the courage to do it,” explained the goalkeeper. It didn’t shine. This one didn’t disappoint either. He finished the season with 14 clean sheets in 34 games (36 goals against), a 64% save percentage and 0.77 goals avoided.
Enough numbers for Deco to offer to renew his contract until 2027. The sporting area had two objectives with the extension of the Pole’s contract: to eliminate Ter Stegen – “it’s a shame he was injured, now he would play”, they say from the German’s entourage – and also to leave a sort of mentor for Joan García in the team. “I want to be with Joan what Buffon (Gianluigi, his Juventus teammate) was with me. There is no competition between us. Joan is a fantastic goalkeeper, but I have experience and I can pass it on to him,” explained Szczesny in an interview with World of sport.
And Szczesny was realizing the two goals that Deco had entrusted to him until Joan García’s knee creaked in Oviedo. The problem, at that time, was that the Pole no longer found it so stimulating to play. He felt more comfortable in the role of glue of the group, sometimes a bridge between the individualist Lewandowski and the rest of the team, always an advisor to Joan García. “My relationship with Tek is very good. He’s a very funny guy,” explains the former Espanyol goalkeeper.
What happened, however, was that the fun-loving Szczesny was no longer so entertaining on the pitch. And if last season he used his experience to send Iñaki Peña to the bench, this season he was left without the strength or speed to hide the absence of Joan García. There are few data more eloquent than the difference in save percentage: while the Pole only reaches 59%, the Catalan goalkeeper reaches 80%. A number that translates into the number of goals avoided: according to StatsPerform data, Joan García’s numbers are 3.11 per game, compared to 0.22 for Szczesny.
“Joan was the best goalkeeper of the last championship and is one of the best in the world. It is impossible to compare him to Tek; they are at very different moments in their careers. Tek is there to add and Joan is there to win games”, they say from the sports area. Joan García has kept a clean sheet in three of the seven games played (43%) and Szczesny in none of the nine games played.
“But – the same sources intervene – this is not what struck the team the most. Their numbers are not those of Joan, but they are normal. The problem is when it comes to pulling the defense line. Tek doesn’t cover the field like Joan does.” A collective problem that begins with less intense pressure from the attackers compared to last season and ends with Szczesny anchored in the area.
Joan García’s return is not only crucial for Szczesny’s peace of mind – “I did it, now nothing until the Cup,” he says mockingly – but also for Flick’s peace of mind. “Guess who’s back? Back again,” Szczesny sings. A song from all of Barça.
