Wojciech Szczęsny spent a lot of his career in England, Italy and Spain, but named a Manchester United player as the opponent he hated playing against the most.
Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny didn’t enjoy the best of records against Manchester United.
The 35-year-old took on United as a goalkeeper on 11 occasions throughout his career, but only managed to win three of those matches. That means he was on the receiving end of six defeats and two draws.
Szczęsny conceded 17 goals against United and kept three clean sheets during that time.
Although Szczęsny retired from football in August 2024, he signed for Barcelona two months later after first choice, Marc-Andre ter Stegen suffered a season-ending injury. He remains at the club with his contract running until 2027.
Wojciech Szczęsny hated playing against Wayne Rooney
In a TikTok challenge with Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo, Szczęsny was asked a series of quickfire questions.
The former Arsenal goalkeeper answered each question in English.
In response to the opponent he has hated playing against the most, Szczęsny named former United forward Wayne Rooney.
“I hated playing against Wayne Rooney,” Szczęsny said. “He scored lots of goals against me.”
Rooney made 559 appearances for United, scoring 253 goals on top of 142 assists. He retired as United’s highest goalscorer of all-time.
After retiring as a footballer, Rooney took on multiple roles as a manager at Derby County, D.C. United, Birmingham City and Plymouth Argyle.
Now, Rooney works as a pundit for BBC and presents his own podcast.
Wayne Rooney hits back at Steven Gerrard’s ‘disrespectful’ claim
Rooney believes Steven Gerrard was being ‘disrespectful’ for calling England’s golden generation ‘egotistical losers’.
England fell short at every major tournament they went to, despite building up their younger players and labelling them the golden generation, which only put them under more pressure and scrutiny as a result.
Rooney and Gerrard played together for England, but Rooney wasn’t in favour of Gerrard’s recent comments.
“Obviously, we didn’t win anything. I wouldn’t quite put it that [Gerrard’s] way but I know what he’s saying. There was a lot of big characters in the dressing room,” Rooney told his BBC podcast.
“I wouldn’t say [England squads now have a] better attitude. That’s disrespectful to us as players because we worked hard, we tried. We didn’t quite manage to do it.
“Even when you look back with the players we had could we have done better? We could have but it wasn’t to be.
“What you have now is [rival teams’] players training [together] before they go back to pre-season together – Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford for instance.
“It’s a different generation. The big thing is the media coverage of it is much better. The players get on better with the media. From the outside that gives a better feeling.
“It [was] difficult to have that relationship with Liverpool and Man Utd players. It’s easier now.
“I speak to Steven all the time [now]. You can have better relationships now because you can have a beer together and relax more.
“I was fine with everyone, I got on with everyone. I was aware Becks [David Beckham] and Gary Neville and Scholesy [Paul Scholes], you could see they weren’t going to be close to the Liverpool players.
“But one thing for sure is everyone worked hard for each other. I don’t think that was an issue. We just didn’t manage to get over the line. I didn’t see that at all.”
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