Szczesny’s huge ball, which hits a teammate and gives the Portuguese a goal

After a very lively start to the match on the seventh day of the Champions League, Wojciech Szczesny made a big error of judgment in the first period. The Polish goalkeeper came very far from his goal on a through ball, collided with his teammate Alejandro Baldé and offered a gift goal to Vangelis Pavlidis.

Guaranteed to compete in the Champions League play-offs before kick-off, Barça wanted to get closer to a direct ticket to the eighth during their trip to Benfica this Tuesday. For the occasion Hans-Dieter Flick instead aligned his big team, but with Wojciech Szczesny in goal. And the evening turned into a nightmare for the Pole.

>> Follow the multiplex of the 7th day of C1

Helpless on Vangelis Pavlidis’s opener in the first minutes, the goalkeeper saw his compatriot, Robert Lewandowski, equalize from the penalty spot. But the one who came out of retirement after Marc-André ter Stegen’s big injury then ruined everything for the Catalans.

On an opening deep behind his defense, and apparently quite innocuous, Wojciech Szczesny made the decision to come out almost 30m from his cages. A fairly incomprehensible decision, coupled with poor communication with Alejandro Baldé which was costly. After hitting his full-back, the Blaugrana goalkeeper pushed him to deflect the ball into the path of Vangelis Pavlidis. The Greek quietly scored a double in his empty goal (2-1, 22nd).

Another disaster for Szczesny, the hat-trick for Vangelis

Already the author of two goals in this match, allowing the Lisbon team to believe in the play-offs (or even the top 8) of the Champions League, Vangelis Pavlidis even scored a hat-trick after half an hour of play. And here again, the Benfica Greek can thank Wojciech Szczesny.

To cap off a catastrophic first period, the goalkeeper once again came out with too much energy at the feet of a Portuguese player.

If the contact seemed light, the action was spectacular and the central referee awarded a penalty to the Lusitano club. Vangelis Pavlidis adjusted the Polish goalkeeper for the break goal. Wojciech Szczesny went through hell this Tuesday evening while the Hellenistic international had a dream first half hour against Barça.