‘They were very good’ – Ex-Arsenal keeper admits to being ‘scared’ while facing Spurs

Former Arsenal keeper, Wojciech Szczesny, has admitted that he enjoyed beating Tottenham in the Champions League round of 16 back in 2018 with Juventus but revealed that he was left scared by how well Spurs were playing.

After coming back from 2-0 down in the first leg in Turin to draw the match 2-2, Spurs welcomed the Serie A champions to Wembley with the game finely poised.

The home side dominated proceedings in the first half and took the lead courtesy of Heung-min Son. At that point, it looked as if they were on route to the quarter-finals.

However, a quickfire double in the second half from Gonzalo Higuaín and Paulo Dybala saw the Italians sneak into the next round.

Szczesny was watching from the bench that night as Gianluigi Buffon started in goal for the visitors. While the former Arsenal shot-stopper admitted his delight at getting one over on an old enemy, he did reveal that the Lilywhites had him worried.

Speaking to Arsenal’s official website, the Polish international recalled: “I really enjoyed that, let me tell you. We beat them at Wembley and I was getting stick.

“I was on the bench because that first year [for me at Juventus], Gigi played all the Champions League games. It seemed like the whole stadium was just everybody against the second-choice keeper of Juventus.

“I was like, ‘Guys, just watch the game, you’re about to get knocked out so just enjoy it’. And they did, so I really enjoyed that.

“I was quite scared because they were very good that night! We just managed to knock them out. In the future, don’t worry – I’ll make sure nothing goes past me if we have to play against them.

“Hold on, hold on, Harry Kane did score against me from the halfway line in a friendly this year, so… I was being friendly to him basically!”

Spurs Web Opinion

I still can’t for the life of me understand how we ended up losing that tie. We were much better than Juventus over the two legs and would have won by four or five goals had we taken our chances. Apart from the first ten minutes in Turin, and a ten-minute spell in the second half at Wembley, Juve were non-existent.

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