Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has given his backing to Wojciech Szczesny as his current number one despite his mistakes in last week’s dramatic Champions League win over Benfica.
Szczesny came out of retirement to join Barca following the season-ending injury suffered by Marc-Andre ter Stegen in September, initially working as a back-up to Inaki Pena.
The Polish goalkeeper has started five of the last six matches for Barca, but was guilty of two glaring errors in their stunning 5-4 comeback win over Benfica in the Champions League last Tuesday.
That result secured a top-eight finish for Flick’s men but they remain in contention for top spot as they go into Wednesday’s match against Atalanta, a game Szczesny is set to keep his place for.
“My job is to make the decision on this position… for me Tek (Szczesny) is an experienced player and he has a good personality, but both of them are great goalkeepers,” Flick said.
“I decided, also with my team, my coaching staff, for Tek… both are very good and in the past Inaki did a good job, but now I decided like that.
“I try to do the best for the team and that’s what I’ve done.”
Barca may already be through but Alejandro Balde warned the visitors there would be no let up from a side he said were eyeing success on multiple fronts this season, having won six and drawn one of their seven competitive fixtures in 2025.
“We have a team to do great things,” the full-back said. “We have won the Super Cup – the first of the season – and there is still a long way to go in the league and in the Champions League we are doing well.
“We have beaten some great teams and we have to think that we can win everything.”
Atalanta go into the game in seventh place in the standings, but only one point above the cut-off for the play-off places, and realistically they know they need to get something from their trip to Catalonia if they are to go straight in the last 16.
But they will have to do so without key forward Ademola Lookman, with the Nigeria forward facing a spell on the sidelines with a knee injury which will prevent him making the trip.
Flick is nevertheless braced for a tough challenge against the third-highest scorers in the league phase of the competition.
“I have a lot of respect for (Gian Piero) Gasperini and his work,” Flick added. “He’s been more than eight years at Atalanta and you can see when a club has so much trust in a coach.
“What they have done in the last few years is incredible and they have a unique style in Europe. They press one-on-one across the whole pitch and it’s not easy to play against them.
“When an important player is missing, it’s not easy. But Gasperini knows his team well. They won’t change their style because they have the same ideas.”
