The face to face between Leo Messi and Robert Lewandowski in the 974 stadium became a face to face between the Argentine star and Wojciech Szczesny. The Polish goalkeeper could not prevent Poland's sweetest defeat against Argentina, which advanced to the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar (2-0), but he did dry up Messi, especially by saving a penalty when the score still remained the 0-0.
The Dutch referee Danny Makkelie awarded the penalty at the behest of the VAR in the first half. It was a controversial decision as the Juventus goalkeeper deflected the ball from a past cross and then touched Messi. The referees spun very finely to consider that this action deserved the maximum penalty.
The anecdote between Szczesny and Messi occurred while Makkelie was reviewing the action. As the one from Warsaw recognized after the game, 100 euros was played so that no penalty would be awarded. He had it very clear, but he lost. Of course, he is clear that he is not going to pay him a single euro.
"We talked before about the penalty. I told him that he bet me 100 euros that he wouldn't take a penalty. So he lost against Messi. I don't know if it's allowed in a World Cup and I'll probably be suspended for that but I'm not worried about it right now. And! I'm not going to pay him either! He doesn't care about 100 euros", he said between laughs.
Szczesny has become one of the great protagonists of the World Cup. He has two penalties stopped. The first against the Saudi Salem Al-Dawsari, key in the Polish victory, and the second against Messi himself. He has become a penalty shootout. Already in the last Euro Cup he stopped another from the Spanish Gerard Moreno and in the previous course of Serie A he aborted three shots at Jordan Veretout, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Antonio Candreva. He has accumulated 26 of 87 shots in all competitions, a very high success rate (29.8%).
The former Arsenal and Roma goalkeeper is the fourth goalkeeper to manage to save two penalties in the same World Cup. It was achieved by his compatriot Jan Tomaszewski (1974), the American Brad Friedel (2002) and on two occasions (2002 and 2010) Iker Casillas.
Poland achieved a long-suffering qualification for the round of 16 of the Qatar 2022 World Cup after what can be considered the 'miracle of 974', in which the performance of Szczesny and defender Jakub Kiwior (saving a goal from behind the sticks on the straight final) was decisive to prevent a wider score that would have eliminated him.
Said result, accompanied by Mexico's 2-1 victory against Saudi Arabia in Lusail, separated 'Tata' Martino's team from the pass and awarded it to a Polish team that was on the verge of KO despite being the one that arrived best placed to the final day of group C.
