Szczesny: "I went in the corner of the showers, so it was at the other end of the dressing room and nobody could see me, and I lit one up"
Monday 27 April 2020 18:55, UK
Former Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has revealed the truth about the time he was caught smoking in the showers after a 2-0 defeat to Southampton in 2015.
Szczesny made 181 appearances in 11 years at Arsenal before joining Juventus in 2017, but the game at St Mary's two years earlier proved to be his final league match for the Gunners.
The Poland international, who openly admits he was "smoking regularly" at the time, made two costly errors during the New Year's Day defeat and says emotions got the better of him.
"Back at that time I was smoking regularly and the boss knew it very well," he told the Arsenal Nation podcast.
"He just didn't want anybody smoking in the dressing rooms and I knew that also.
"Because of the emotion of the game, I had a cigarette after the game when the team was still in.
"I went in the corner of the showers, so it was at the other end of the dressing room and nobody could see me, and I lit one up."
Szczesny was fined for his behaviour and former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger replaced him in the starting line-up with Colombian David Ospina.
"Somebody saw me, it wasn't even the boss himself, and just reported it back to the boss. I saw him a couple of days later, he asked me if that was true and I said, 'Yes'. He fined me and that was the end of it," Szczesny added.
"He then said, 'Look, you're going to be out of the team for a little bit' but there was no big bust-ups or big confrontations. I was very professional about it.
"I was fully expecting to be back in the team a few weeks later but we had a good run of form and David Ospina, who came in goal, played really well for those few games. He stayed in.
"That meant I was waiting and trying to win my place back in the team, or trying to convince him that I was still the best goalkeeper at the club by going out on loan.
"That sounds strange but sometimes it's the best way of doing it."
