FIFA World Cup 2022: Szczesny made penalty bet with Messi during Argentina clash against Poland

The
Juventus
stopper
denied
Messi
from
the
spot
in
the
first
half
of
Poland’s
2-0
defeat
in
Group
C
following
a
controversial
decision,
where
Danny
Makkelie
pointed
to
the
spot
after
watching
the
incident
following
VAR
advice.

Szczesny
was
among
those
convinced
that
it
should
not
have
been
a
penalty,
even
going
as
far
as
to
make
a
bet
with
Messi
during
the
delay
of
the
game
–
though
he
has
no
intention
of
paying
up.

“We
spoke
before
the
penalty.
I
told
him
I
can
bet
him
€100
that
he
[the
referee]
wasn’t
going
to
give
it.
So,
I’ve
lost
a
bet
against
Messi,”
he
said
after
the
match.

“I
don’t
know
if
that’s
allowed
at
the
World
Cup
and
I’m
probably
going
to
get
banned
for
it
but
I
don’t
care
right
now.
And
I’m
not
going
to
pay
him
either!
He
doesn’t
care
about
€100,
come
on.”

Szczesny’s
denial
of
Messi
from
the
spot
saw
the
Polish
stopper
become
only
the
third
goalkeeper
to
save
two
penalties
at
a
single
World
Cup
tournament,
excluding
shoot-outs,
having
kept
out
Saudi
Arabia’s
Salem
Al
Dawsari
in
the
previous
round
of
fixtures.

His
celebrations
were
muted,
however,
due
to
the
tight
contest
in
Group
C
to
advance
to
the
knockout
stage
–
with
Poland
only
advancing
ahead
of
Mexico
on
goal
difference.

“Yeah
it
was
nice,
I
didn’t
know
at
the
time
it
was
going
to
help
us
get
through
so
I
tried
not
to
celebrate,”
he
added.

“But
I’ve
had
some
bad
luck
at
the
big
tournaments
so
far,
the
World
Cup
four
years
ago
was
awful
for
me
and
I
owed
this
much
to
the
team
and
in
the
last
two
games
I
managed
to
help
them
a
little
bit.”

Poland
will
face
defending
champions
France
at
Al
Thumama
Stadium
on
Sunday
in
the
nation’s
first
appearance
in
the
knockout
stage
since
1986.