Wojciech Szczesny breaks silence after 'health scare' forced him to be subbed off in Juventus vs Sporting CP

Wojciech Szczesny has reassured fans about his wellbeing after he went down due to ‘signs of chest pain’ during Juventus and Sporting CP’s Europa League tie.

The 32-year-old Juventus star was spotted going down while clutching his chest and signalling towards the club bench for medical attention before half-time.

A visibly emotional Szczesny was in tears as he left the pitch, with Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri replacing him with Mattia Perin in the first half.

Juventus confirmed that Szczesny, who marched down the tunnel after he was subbed off, was “doing well” in a brief Twitter update.

“After an initial check, Tek is doing well,” the club said.

Sky in Italy reported that the ex-Arsenal shot-stopper underwent treatment via an electrocardiogram (ECG), which can detect electrical activity and the heart’s rhythm.

There was no irregularity found in Szczesny’s ECG test and the Poland international later told reporters that he was “worried” over the chest pains.

“I was worried, I was not able to breathe but now I feel good,” he said.

“The tests confirmed that there’s no problem.”

Sporting sent a heartfelt tweet after concerns were raised over Szczesny’s condition, with the Portuguese club simply writing: “Forca, Szczesny.”

Federico Gatti broke the deadlock in the second half and sealed an important 1-0 win for Juventus at the Allianz Stadium on Thursday.

Speaking after the match, Allegri told Sky Sport Italia: “We made a few mistakes, the lads can improve, above all in the final cross when Perin made two crucial saves, we should’ve sensed the danger earlier.

“We did better in the second half with three midfielders, who gave us better width. Sporting pressed high and lost intensity as the game wore on, I had to sort of adapt Angel Di Maria to a wide role and naturally they were causing us a few problems in midfield.

“It was a good performance, it wasn’t easy to win and to keep a clean sheet.”

Juventus will travel to the Estadio Jose Alvalade in Portugal for their second-leg Europa League quarter-final tie against Sporting on 20th April.

Featured Image Credit: CBS Sports Golazo/Twitter

Topics: Juventus, Sporting CP, Football, Europa League

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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