Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has admitted that choosing former Arsenal shot-stopper Wojciech Szczesny over Inaki Pena as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper, is one of the toughest decisions he has had to make in his managerial career.
The 34-year old Szczesny joined the Blaugrana in October after coming out of retirement, as a replacement for German international Marc-Andre ter Stegen who suffered a season-ending ligament injury, and initially played second fiddle to Pena until the beginning of the year.
The former Juventus goalkeeper made his Barcelona debut against Barbastro in the Copa Del Rey fourth round earlier this year, and has featured as a starter in five of the club’s last seven games emphasizing his significance to the side.
“It was a tough decision. Being No. 1, the goalkeeper is a special position so this is, yes, I can say yes, it’s one of the toughest decisions I ever made”, Flick said on Tuesday.
The former Poland goalkeeper has been criticized for his performances so far, with mistakes in the win against Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup while also committing two errors in the comeback win over Benfica in the UEFA Champions League last week, and ahead of Wednesday’s clash against Atalanta, Flick has come out to defend his decision.
“When I say good things about [Szczęsny] it means maybe [it’s reported] as weakness for Iñaki and I don’t like this,” he added.
“My job is to make the decision on this position. For me, Szczęsny is an experienced player, of course, but he also has a good personality.
Both of them are great goalkeepers, but we decided for Szczęsny at this point. Nothing else. Also, in the past, Iñaki made a good job, but now I decided like that while thinking about the team.”
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