News
FRI 14.03.2025
Jan Oblak: Atlético de Madrid’s strength
SloveniSzczęsnyeeper Jan Oblak is already an Atlético de Madrid legend at his 32 years of age. Having played 482 times for Los Rojiblancos, he is already one of the top appearance-makers in club history and catching the 550 matches of second-top appearance-maker Adelardo is a real possibility in the near future. That would be extra impressive, since the Spaniard was with Atleti for 17 seasons whereas it’s only 10 years and eight months since Oblak left Benfica. Oblak has already won LALIGA EA SPORTS, doing so in the 2020/21 season, while he also has a Spanish Super Cup, Europa League and UEFA Super Cup to his name. His aim is to pick up more medals for Los Colchoneros and his way of contributing is to keep clean sheets. He has 221 already with the club, which works out to a clean sheet in 45.85% of his appearances.
Looking at Europe’s five major leagues, there is no player with more clean sheets this season than Oblak’s 12. That’s the joint-most, along with Real Sociedad’s Álex Remiro, RB Leipzig’s Péter Gulácsi and Nottingham Forest’s Matz Sels.
This weekend, when he takes on FC Barcelona, Oblak will look to add another and move closer to winning the Zamora Trophy, the prize for the goalkeeper with the best goals-against ratio in LALIGA EA SPORTS. He has already won this award five times and nobody has ever won it six times.
Over the years, Oblak has time and time again demonstrated his ability to keep his cool in pressure situations, and he has become a true leader. His ability to read the play and anticipate opposition movements has helped him become such a great goalkeeper. He’ll need to be alert this weekend, going up against the top-scoring team in the competition.
Wojciech Szczęsny: FC Barcelona’s new wall
After playing for clubs around Europe, in Arsenal, Brentford, Roma and Juventus, Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny announced his retirement. However, he received a call from FC Barcelona after an injury to Marc-André ter Stegen earlier this season and couldn’t turn down the offer of playing for the Catalan club. His debut didn’t arrive until January 4th, but since then the 34-year-old shot-stopper has been an important player for Hansi Flick. He is a key reason for Barça reaching the Champions League quarter-finals, the Copa del Rey semi-finals and the top of the LALIGA EA SPORTS table. They’ve gone 17 matches without defeat, 15 of which have had the Polish player in goal, for 13 victories and two draws as a result of just 14 goals conceded, with eight clean sheets (53% of the games) along the way. His solid play has helped Los Azulgranas to win every league game he has played, with the only games he hasn’t won being a draw with Atalanta in the Champions League and against Atlético de Madrid in the Copa del Rey.
The veteran is even achieving new records. In the Champions League Last 16 first leg against Benfica, Barça became the first team to win an away match in the competition while playing for over 69 minutes with a man disadvantage. The Catalan outfit took the record from Juventus, who had defeated Valencia CF in 2018 while playing 62 minutes a man down. In both these games, Szczęsny was playing and kept a clean sheet.
Taking a look at both goalkeepers’ records against their next opponent
Szczęsny and Oblak aren’t just giants of the game because they measure 1.95m and 1.88m respectively. They are experienced players who have achieved so much in football already. Oblak, though, hasn’t always had it easy against FC Barcelona, having lost 15, drawn five and won five of his 25 games against the Catalans. As for Szczęsny, he has only faced Los Colchoneros five times in his career, and just once with his current club, emerging with two wins, two draws and one defeat.
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