“Unbelievable, you had to retire to go to a big club” - Cristiano Ronaldo responds after Szczesny tells him ‘I play for Barcelona now’
Wojciech Szczesny along with his children met Cristiano Ronaldo yesterday (October 13) when the latter had travelled to play Poland in the Nations League. In a comical exchange of words, Szczesny informed Ronaldo that he has signed for Barcelona. Ronaldo knew that beforehand and remarked that the goalkeeper had to retire to sign for a big club.
He said:
"All good, you happy? Unbelievable, you had to retire to go to a big club."
Here's how the conversation went:
Poland faced Portugal during the international break and will again face off in November. In this fixture, Portugal got the better of Szczesny's country by a score of 3-1. Goals from Bernardo Silva and Cristiano Ronaldo, and of course an own goal from Polish defender Jan Bednarek helped Portugal emerge victorious.
Wojciech Szczesny recently penned a contract with Barcelona after their first-choice custodian Marc-Andre ter Stegen suffered a long-term injury. The Polish goalie had decided to hang up his boots after the end of the 2023-24 season, but when Hansi Flick's side came calling, he couldn't resist but come out of retirement.
Szczesny shared the dressing room with Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus. The Portuguese star joined the Italian side back in 2018 and went on to play for them till 2021 before returning to Manchester United. Szczesny, on the other hand, had signed for Juventus back in 2017.
This was Szczesny's second stint in Italy, prior to which he had spent two seasons on loan at AS Roma. After spending seven long seasons at Juventus, the Polish custodian announced his retirement. But now the 34-year-old will be back in action after a small career break.
Cristiano Ronaldo scores 11th goal of the season
Cristiano Ronaldo maintained his goal-scoring form against Poland as well. He had scored in the fixtures against Scotland and Croatia and now added his 11th goal of the season, across both club and country.
The 39-year-old could have scored his 12th goal as well, but decided to lay it into Bruno Fernandes' path, only to see the latter blast it over.
The Portuguese forward's other eight goals have come for his club Al-Nassr for whom he has delivered three assists as well. He established this across three competitions, namely, the Saudi Pro League, Saudi Super Cup and AFC Champions League Elite.
Although Al-Nassr are unbeaten in the domestic league, they currently sit third with 14 points from six outings. Neymar Jr's Al-Hilal lead the table with 18 points, followed by Karim Benzema's Al-Ittihad, who have 15 points in their bag from a possible 18.
In the AFC Champions League Elite, Al-Nassr have four points from two games. Cristiano Ronaldo wasn't able to feature in the opening tie against Al-Shorta due to illness. However, when he returned in the Al Rayyan game, he found the back of the net and helped his team achieve a 2-1 victory.