"This stinker is going to the record books", "Running around like a rugby player" - Fans slam Barcelona star after 5-4 win over Benfica

Fans have taken to social media to slam Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny after their 5-4 win over Benfica in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, January 21. The sides faced off at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, where the goals were flowing into both nets.

While Benfica goalkeeper Anatolii Trubin had a disappointing performance, with a major error leading to a goal, the fans were focused on Wojciech Szczesny. The 34-year-old came out of retirement to join Barca earlier this season after the Catalan giants lost Marc-Andre ter Stegen to a season-long injury.

While he served as the backup goalkeeper to Inaki Pena early on, his performances in the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de Espana put him in contention for the starting spot. However, his recent Champions League outing against Benfica ended in a rather concerning manner.

In the 22nd minute, Szczesny came out of his area to clear a through ball and clashed into Alejandro Balde, which left Vangelis Pavlidis free to score into an empty net. He made a reckless challenge on Kerem Artukoglu, coming out from his goal too early to tackle the winger in the penalty area. Pavlidis scored the resulting penalty in the 30th minute.

Fans took to X after the match to question his performance with comments like these:

"szczesny oh my god this stinker is going to the record books," a fan wrote.

"Szczesny with one of the worst GK performances i have seen in a long time. What is he doing? Running around like a rugby player," another fan added.

"He might go back into retirement after this game," a fan mocked.

"Szczesny needs to hop off the f**king vapes and we also need to rip that new contract up we offered araujo and ship him off to damn Juventus," another wrote.

"Szczęsny returning from retirement just to prove his decision to retire was the correct one. gotta respect the hustle," another fan wrote.

"Szczesny deserves the embarrassment of being subbed out before half time. Immediately," a fan stated.

"Ter Stegen has been poor, but he has never been this horrendous," another fan said.

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Barcelona edge nine-goal thriller against Benfica in the dying minutes

Benfica opened the scoring early on, with Vangelis Pavlidis finding the net within two minutes after being set-up by former Manchester United full-back Alvaro Carreras. Barcelona equalized soon after, with Robert Lewandowski scoring from the penalty spot (13').

Pavlidis put the hosts ahead, placing the ball into an empty net after Szczesny dashed out of his area and collided with his own player (22'). The striker clinched the match ball, scoring his and Benfica's third from the penalty spot (30').

Raphinha made it 3-2 in the 64th minute, after Benfica goalkeeper Trubin kicked the ball at his head and it bounced into the corner of the net. Ronald Araujo scored an own goal (68'), making the scoreline 4-2 and seemingly sealing the tie for the hosts.

However, La Blaugrana turned things around. Another penalty gave Lewandowski his second goal of the night, as he scored from the spot (78'). Eric Garcia made it 4-4 after Pedri found him in the box with a perfect cross (86'). Then, against all odds, Raphinha made it 5-4 in Barcelona's favor in the second-half stoppage-time (90+6').