> “I like to eat, and although I manage to stay within the weight bracket, I still broke Barcelona’s record for body fat. Excessive. OnLewy once, making fun of me in the Polish national team locker room – I was only in my underwear – said, ‘How could Szczęsny have such a career with that body?’” Coach Michniewicz, himself a goalkeeper, said then, “You see, Lewy, being in goal is like chess. You play with your hands, but really with your head.” Since then, whenever anyone tells me, ‘Wojtek, go to the gym,’ I reply, ‘Listen, it’s chess.’
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> “I’ve never been a player who trained harder than others, but I’ve managed to maintain the same high level throughout my 18-year career. It may never have been a top ten, but I’ve never dropped below eight either. If I had played to the max, I would have had alternating tens and sixes, but I kept eights the entire time and made a career out of it.”