4 of Wojciech Szczesny's Best Moments of 2019
Wojciech Szczesny is ranked 33rd in 90min's European Player of the Year series.
Remember when Wojciech Szczesny was deemed not good enough to play for Arsenal? The Arsenal who currently sit tenth in the Premier League table? The Arsenal who haven't won a league title since 2004?
Yeah, me too.
And, as you can guess by the fact that we at 90min have ranked Wojciech Szczesny as the 33rd best European player in 2019, that was a pretty bad decision.
So to rub in just how much of a disastrous mistake that was by Arsenal, let's take a look at Szczesny's best moments of 2019 - a year during which he became one of the very best in the world.
Becoming Juventus' Undisputed Number One
Juventus' current goalkeeping options:
Gianluigi Buffon: 41 years old, but quite literally the greatest footballer of all time and the undisputed number one at Paris Saint-Germain throughout the 2018/19 season.
Mattia Perrin: One of the million heirs to Buffon's throne, and when signed was considered by some Juventini to be a superior goalkeeper than Szczesny. At Genoa, he was one of the best the league has to offer and, at 27 years old, is still in the prime of his career.
Wojciech Szczesny: Despite how good the aforementioned goalkeepers are, Woj is the undisputed number one goalkeeper at Juventus. He's fended off competition from Perrin for the number one jersey and fended off the returning Buffon this season by becoming the best goalie in Serie A.
Saving Juventus Against Lazio
Giorgio Chiellini: "For 55 to 60 minutes it was certainly the worst Juventus performance of the season. Wojciech Szczesny kept us afloat for an hour."
As the number one goalkeeper at one of the most dominant football clubs of the decade, it's fair to say that big Woj isn't called into action as much as the Ben Forsters of the world. However, when he is called into action, he's expected to step up; and he pretty much always does.
One example of this was his incredible performance at the Stadio Olimpico in January. While the rest of Juve's team were busy falling flat on their arses, kicking the ball out for throw-ins and losing possession at the edge of their own penalty area, Szczesny was busy, well, actually doing his job.
For the first hour, big Woj saved everything Lazio threw at him, giving Juve the platform to go on and snatch an undeserving win.
Keeping AC Milan at Bay
The above, only against AC Milan at the Allianz Stadium.
Like in the game against Lazio, big Woj was hellbent on keeping Milan at bay. And like in the game against Lazio, he saved everything. He caught everything. He even made a 'save of the season' contender save to stop a looping header from Lucas Paqueta while the game was locked level at 0-0.
Oh, and like the game against Lazio, Szczesny's heroics gave Juve the platform to go on and snatch another undeserving win.
Atalanta Save
The finger-tip save to deny Paqueta at the Allianz Stadium was pretty great; the save to deny Mario Pasalic at Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia was seriously special.
With Juve being essentially rag-dolled by Atalanta throughout the whole first half, it was all down to big Woj in goal to bail La Vecchia Signora out...again.
And he did...again...by diving down to within an inch of the foot of his left post to tip a thunderous close-range header from Pasalic around the post.
Oh, and of course such a save would give Juve the platform to go on and...you know the rest.