Barcelona veteran Szczesny opens up about hidden struggles: ‘Can’t catch the ball without feeling pain’ | OneFootball

Wojciech Szczesny’s return from retirement to become Barcelona’s first-team goalkeeper during the 2024/25 season was one of the club’s most unexpected stories.

Behind his performances on the pitch, however, lies a life shaped by constant physical pain and difficult personal experiences that the Polish international has now spoken about publicly for the first time.

In an interview with former Poland teammate Grzegorz Krychowiak, Szczesny revealed the chronic injury he has lived with for years and reflected on a childhood marked by fear in his relationship with his father.

A career changed forever by a serious injury

When Szczesny announced his retirement following Euro 2024, many assumed the decision was simply the result of years spent competing at the highest level.

According to the goalkeeper, the real reason was far more personal.

His retirement was largely driven by the chronic pain he has endured ever since suffering a devastating injury while playing for Arsenal in 2008, when he fractured both of his arms.

Szczesny deas with chronic pain in his hands. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

That injury permanently changed his career. Since then, every training session and every match has involved playing through pain that has never completely disappeared.

“It’s just that I can’t catch the ball without feeling pain. There hasn’t been a single shot I’ve saved without feeling anything. It’s just that I’ve got used to the pain, and it’s a very unpleasant sensation,” he said, as quoted by SPORT.

Szczesny explained that the discomfort extends far beyond football matches.

Pre-season training is particularly demanding, and after intense sessions even ordinary daily activities become challenging.

“Sometimes I can’t even take my glove off because I can’t undo the Velcro and I have to ask for help. I can’t hold a bottle of water without dropping it, or unscrew the cap. It usually takes me about an hour,” he revealed.

The veteran goalkeeper admitted that these limitations have become part of his daily routine after years of living with the consequences of his injury.

A childhood shaped by fear

During the interview, Szczęsny also discussed one of the most painful chapters of his personal life: his relationship with his father, Maciej Szczesny, himself a former Polish international goalkeeper.

His parents separated when he was only six months old. Although they remained in contact, Szczesny said that fear always defined their relationship.

“From a very young age, there was a relationship between us in which I was afraid of my father,” he reflected.

“From as far back as I can remember right up until I became an adult, I was initially physically afraid of him and then, when problems arose, I was afraid to confront him. It got to the point where it finally broke down.”

Szczesny also opened up on his childhood. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

The former Barcelona goalkeeper recalled that his father’s arrival at home rarely brought comfort. Instead, it created anxiety.

“I never had the feeling of thinking, ‘Oh, Dad’s coming.’ It was more like, ‘Bloody hell, Dad’s coming,’ because you never knew what mood he’d be in when he arrived,” he recalled.

A promise to his own son

Those childhood experiences left lasting emotional scars. At the same time, they shaped the kind of parent Szczesny wanted to become.

Reflecting on his own family, he explained that he made himself one important promise.

“I promised myself that I would never make my son afraid of me coming home,” he concluded.

Szczesny’s candid reflections reveal a side of one of Europe’s most experienced goalkeepers that supporters rarely see.

For years, he has continued performing at the highest level while living with permanent physical pain stemming from a career-altering injury.

At the same time, he has carried emotional wounds from a difficult childhood, experiences that have influenced not only his life away from football but also the father he strives to be today.