No one would hold it against Wojciech Szczesny if he was angry after Poland's World Cup defeat at the hands of Argentina on Wednesday evening.
The Poland goalkeeper played his part in securing the eastern European nation's safe passage to the tournament's knockout stages, despite losing 2-0 in Qatar as Brighton's Alexis Mac Allister and Man City striker Julian Alvarez both got on the scoresheet for the South American's.
The 32-year-old Juventus shot-stopper denied Argentina superstar Lionel Messi from the penalty spot after VAR's unjustly intervention awarded a penalty in the 34th minute.
Szczesny's glove delicately grazed Messi's face as the striker tried to steer a header on target, with many including the goalkeeper, not immediately concerned that it was an even a foul.
The Poland penalty hero revealed he was so confident no foul would be awarded that he made a '€100 bet' with Messi as VAR reviewed the situation inside Stadium 974.
Unfortunately, Szczesny will now have to dig deep into his bank account to find the cash after referee Danny Makkelie pointed to the spot having reviewed the incident on a pitchside monitor.
Speaking to Norwegian broadcaster TV 2 Sport post-match, the former Arsenal goalkeeper revealed the details of his and Messi's bet before jokingly admitting he may now be 'banned' by FIFA for breaching betting rules.
'No I didn't [think the penalty would be given],' said Szczesny.
'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.'
Hopefully for Poland this won't happen with the in-form keeper's mesmerising performance against Argentina the difference in seeing a poor Poland side qualify for the next round of fixtures.
Luck may not have been on his side when trying to guess the official's decision, but Szczesny quipped he needed a dash of good fortune to deny a determined Messi from close-range.
'I was fortunate twice this competition. It's a great moment in the career of a player, the World Cup is the maximum and this is special,' he told RAI Sport.
'There's a bit of work that goes into it too, but in order to save a Messi penalty, you need some luck as well.'
eggosa91
306
Wojciech Szczesny told everyone to calm down before he saved Messi's penalty 🥶
Graphics100
161
Argentina 🇦🇷 goalkeeper be like save your penalty I'm relaxing 🤣🤣
SonicSynchro
77
your idiotic news reads, "Unfortunately, Szczesny will now have to dig deep into his bank account to find the cash" what the freak you think Szczesny has no money in his account‼️
AbdulZaks008
55
If he fail to win this penalty Poland would Kick out of world cup, But his save send them to Round of 16, Kudos to Szsxcszney...France next 😉
Nekaeilnpr
21
VAR!!! I don’t get it, I think the world needs another VAR in the VAR room as the referees in the VAR are making the wrong decisions so they need help 😂 If Messi was fouled then Pulisic Fouled the Iranian goalkeeper after he scored the goal so does that mean the goal should have been disallowed??????
UnusualKing
8
As an Argentina fan, I like that from Szczesny. Just goes to show how jovial they were during the match. He probably won't even pay bcuz it the best probably was just a talk anyway. Almost everyone use the word "bet" a an expression to bring across thier point. After the game they both probably laughed about it
mopklrsy
8
‘Messi is giving the 100 to the referee