Nightmares or you could say a curse Wojciech Szczesny in the Euro continued on Monday with its latest blunder.
Goalkeeper Poland it was making its third appearance at the tournament having featured one game in the 2012 and 2016 editions.
But last night was a moment for Szczesny to forget in St Petersburg, where he became the first goalkeeper to score an own goal in the competition’s history.
With 18 minutes, Robert Mak’s brilliant solo run saw the Slovakian star’s shot hit the near post. But, unfortunately for Szczesny who dived, the ball hit his back and into the net.
Karol Linetty equalized for Poland before Milan Skriniar restored the lead for Slovakia and came out victorious.
However, the own goal added another curse for Szczesny. The former Arsenal stopper featured at Euro 2012 when Poland co-hosted with Ukraine.
In the opening game against Greece, he flew out to try and claim a cross but did not manage to get close to it, allowing Dimitris Salpingidis to fire a shot into the unmarked goal.
And to make matters worse, he was then sent off after bringing down Salpingidis in the box, but the spot-kick was saved by substitute Przemyslaw Tyton. Szczesny also did not play again in the remaining Poland matches at home.
And four years later, there’s another bad moment to forget. The Juventus star picked up a thigh injury in Poland’s opening match win over Northern Ireland and will have to miss the rest of the season as his country reach the quarter-finals.
That means in total, Szczesny who now has 54 caps has played three matches in the European Championship.
In his 258 minutes, he has conceded three goals, made one save, one error led to a goal, awarded a penalty and received a red card.
Szczesny also featured at the 2018 World Cup and made another big blunder when he came out of the net but failed to fully control the ball, allowing Senegal’s Mbaye Niang to score the winner.
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