Wojciech Szczęsny and Lionel Messi went head-to-head on November 30th, for the final match of their Group C. The match was a must-win for Argentina if they wanted to move toward the round of 16 and so they did.
They defeated the Poland national team by 2 goals and even kept a clean sheet. However, the scoreline would have been a tad bit higher if Messi hadn’t missed a penalty kick in the 39th minute. The PSG star was awarded a spot kick after Szczesny seemingly made physical contact with him while saving a ball from going inside the net.
Lionel and Szczesny in a conversation.After a couple of minutes of VAR check by referee Danny Makkelie, a penalty was awarded to the South American team. While the referee was going through footage to whether allow the kick or not, Wojciech and Messi had a little conversation wherein the Polish keeper wagered €100 with the seven-times Ballon d O’r winner that the referee won’t give the penalty. But unfortunately for Szczesny, the penalty was indeed given and he lost the bet.
In his own word, he said,
“We spoke before the penalty and I told him I can bet him €100 that he wasn’t going to give it. So I’ve lost a bet against Messi. I don’t know if that’s allowed at the World Cup. I’m probably going to be banned for it. I don’t care right now.”
Well, Szczesny won’t certainly be fined for that given that it’s just a friendly bet. At the end of the day, the goalkeeper stopped Messi’s kick from the spot, though Poland eventually lost the match 2-0.
