Barcelona star breaks multiple records with his match-winning performance vs Benfica | OneFootball

Wojciech Szczesny is the talk of the town in Barcelona right now, following a memorable performance in between the sticks against SL Benfica last night.

The Polish goalkeeper single-handedly kept Benfica from scoring against a ten-men Barcelona setup by pulling out one save after another.

Although the Man of the Match award eluded him, Szczesny admitted that he was more than happy with his performance and the clean sheet.

A night of many records broken

Szczesny’s performance against Benfica not only helped Barcelona secure a valuable lead, but also saw him break multiple club records last night.

For one, Szczesny made an astonishing eight saves throughout the game, a feat not seen at Barcelona in over five years.

The last time a Barcelona goalkeeper reached this milestone was in the 2019/20 Champions League campaign, when Marc-Andre ter Stegen made eight saves against Slavia Prague.

A performance for the history books (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

However, Szczesny’s heroics carried even greater significance, as he achieved this while his team played with ten men for more than 69 minutes.

The last time a Barcelona goalkeeper managed more than eight saves in a single game was during the 2015/16 Champions League, when Ter Stegen made nine stops against Bayer Leverkusen in a 1-1 draw.

The German made 12 saves at the Santiago Bernabeu in the 2016/17 La Liga Clasico as well.

Nevertheless, beyond his individual records, Szczesny also played a key role in a historic team achievement.

With their win over Benfica, Barcelona became the first team in Champions League history to win an away match while playing with ten men for over 69 minutes.

This record had previously been held by Juventus, who, coincidentally with Szczesny in goal, managed a similar feat in 2018 against Valencia while playing a man down for 62 minutes.

Not to mention, Barcelona are yet to lose since Hansi Flick took the gamble with Szczesny and made him the club’s number one goalkeeper, in the absence of ter Stegen.