When Wojciech Szczesny made his first Camp Nou appearance as a Barcelona player on Wednesday night, the home fans welcomed him with a standing ovation.

The 35-year-old goalkeeper came on in the 82nd minute of the Champions League round of 16 second leg against Newcastle United to replace No 1 Joan Garcia, who had picked up a calf problem. He might have been surprised by what came next. Either way, the former Poland international certainly seemed to enjoy it.

Barca were already 7-2 up and winning the tie 8-3 on aggregate, as the score would remain. Supporters had been treated to an incredible attacking display, and the festive mood improved further still when Szczesny came on. The home crowd started to chant “Szczesny fumador” (Szczesny, smoker) — a reference to just one characteristic that has  helped make him a cult hero in his short time at the Catalan club.

Szczesny joined Barca as a free agent in October 2024, an emergency signing who came out of retirement after Barca’s captain and starting goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear.

Just over a month before that, Szczesny had announced he was hanging up his boots, having agreed a mutual termination of his deal with Juventus at the end of the 2023-24 season. A call from his former Poland team-mate and friend Robert Lewandowski made him reconsider, and the ex-Arsenal ‘keeper soon became a key part of the Barca setup alongside the striker.

By January 2025, Szczesny had become manager Hansi Flick’s No 1 choice in goal, putting together a string of solid performances and usurping Inaki Pena in the role. He ended up making 30 appearances, keeping 14 clean sheets as Barca won a domestic treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Supercopa de Espana titles and reached the Champions League semi-finals, where they were knocked out by Inter.

What fans valued most about Szczesny was that, when his moment came, he stepped up. But off the pitch, his outgoing personality and unfiltered way of being also made him increasingly popular among supporters and team-mates alike as the season went on.

A large part of that was his smoking. That quickly became a much talked about topic after he arrived, and his attitude towards it seemed to be appreciated — perhaps for his honesty and even brazenness in a world that is often dominated by dull, carefully managed media appearances by footballers.

By contrast, in an interview with Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo in November 2024, Szczesny said: “There’s some things I don’t change from my personal life and it’s nobody’s business if I smoke.

“Sometimes people might take a picture of me, hiding in the trees or places I can’t see them. That’s on them, that’s not on me. I try to hide it and not show it to people. I don’t believe it affects what I do on a football pitch. I work twice as hard, and I don’t do it in front of kids because I don’t want to have a bad influence on them.”

Wojciech Szczesny coming on for the final stages of Wednesday’s 7-2 win against Newcastle United (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

At the end of that 2024-25 season, Barcelona went on an open-top bus parade through the city to celebrate their three titles. Szczesny showed up with a huge cigar, wearing a hat with the word fumador (smoker) handwritten on it. It boosted his popularity levels further, and supporters welcomed him signing a new two-year deal that summer.

Last week, in an interview with GQ magazine in Poland, Szczesny revealed he essentially played for free for Barca last term, explaining that the money he received effectively “re-paid Juventus to compensate for the mutual contract termination we agreed on”. A condition of his early exit from the Turin club was that he would not sign for another team for the following season.

Barca sources, who asked to speak anonymously as they did not have permission to discuss the matter, said Szczesny’s new contract agreed in the summer would help to amend the limited salary he ended up earning during his first campaign in Spain.

This term, Szczesny’s appearances have been more limited, owing to the €25million (£21.7m; $28.8m) signing of Joan Garcia. He played nine times from September to November after Garcia suffered a partially torn meniscus, but had not featured at the Camp Nou, which was only reopened in late November, until the Newcastle second leg.

Wojciech Szczesny’s Barcelona contract runs until the end of June 2027 (Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

Off the pitch though, fans have continued to enjoy glimpses of Szczesny’s character as a showman on the sidelines. In a La Liga match Barca played at Real Betis in December, TV broadcaster Movistar filmed Szczesny throwing paper balls at his fellow substitutes on the bench, with Pedri and Raphinha his preferred victims. When Fermin Lopez was then called by Flick to get ready to come on, the veteran ‘keeper shouted towards the 22-year-old “Hey Fermin! Snus?“, before busting out laughing.

After Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-2 to win the Supercopa de Espana final in Saudi Arabia in January, Szczesny did not realise Lamine Yamal was livestreaming on Instagram, and he inadvertently popped up in the background smoking a cigarette in the dressing room. In February’s 5-2 win at Villarreal, meanwhile, fans started singing the “Szczesny, smoker” song, and the Pole began to smile and nod along to the tune.

He is a joker — somebody who does not take things too seriously, and a person who blends well with every single individual in the dressing room because of that. He is particularly close now with 24-year-old Garcia. You might have thought that Garcia’s transfer was contrary to Szczesny’s interests, but right now he does not want to be an undisputed No 1.

Szczesny started this season knowing he would be a back-up. He was happy with that — and even more so after seeing Garcia in training. Szczesny was very impressed and saw great potential in the summer signing.

Barca’s latest injury update will have come as good news, in that case, as the Spanish goalkeeper suffered no serious injury against Newcastle and will be fit for Sunday’s home league match against Rayo Vallecano. Garcia has also been called up to Luis de la Fuente’s Spain squad for the March international break.

That Rayo game will be another in which Szczesny does not play, but he will remain an icon in Barcelona regardless.