BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona added former Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to its squad on Wednesday to help make up for the absence of the injured Marc-André ter Stegen.
Szczesny had retired from professional soccer in August after leaving Italian club Juventus, but he said it would be “stupid” not to accept the Barcelona offer.
He said former Poland teammate Robert Lewandowski played a big part in the signing as the Barcelona striker was “probably the very first person that called” to ask Szczesny if there was a possibility of coming out of retirement.
“It took some convincing,” Szczesny said. “At the start I wasn’t sure if I’m ready for new challenges, but then I spoke with my family and I spoke with my friends and everybody told me how stupid I would be if I didn’t accept this. And I agreed with them.”
Barcelona said the 34-year-old Szczesny arrives “in unusual circumstances but there is no doubt that his CV speaks for itself.”
“It's a very proud moment,” Szczesny said. “I was honestly ready for retirement and I was happy there. I wouldn't do this for anybody else. It's exciting, it's a challenge for me, and it's a challenge that I face with a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm. I'm ready for it"
Barcelona said it had reached a deal for Szczesny to stay until the end of the season.
Ter Stegen, one of the team's captains, had surgery after rupturing a tendon in his right knee in a Spanish league game and is expected to be sidelined for several months.
Iñaki Peña has been Barcelona’s starter in goal since Ter Stegen got injured last month. Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has backed the 25-year-old Peña but said the club would look to add an experienced goalkeeper to the squad.
Szczesny attended Barcelona's 5-0 win over Young Boys in the Champions League on Tuesday, watching the match from a VIP section at the Montjuic stadium.
Szczesny, who also starred for Arsenal, made 84 appearances for Poland, including at this year's European Championship. He featured in two World Cups and four Euros.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Wojciech Szczesny, centre, a new goalkeeper for Barcelona is on stands during the Champions League soccer match between Barcelona and Young Boys at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Liberian man arrested over the weekend after heavily armed immigration agents used a battering ram to break through the front door of his Minneapolis home had been checking in regularly with federal authorities for years, his attorney said Tuesday.
The arrest of Garrison Gibson, 37 during a Minnesota immigration crackdown that the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever, was a “blatant constitutional violation,” since the agents did not have a proper warrant, said attorney Marc Prokosch.
The arrest Sunday came in a city increasingly on edge after an immigration agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good last week, setting off waves of angry protests and clashes between authorities and activists.
“This was an illegal search, absolutely,” said Prokosch, because agents had brought only an administrative warrant, which authorizes someone’s arrest but does not allow officers to forcibly enter private homes. Forced entry requires a criminal warrant signed by a judge.
Gibson, who fled the Liberian civil war as a child, had been ordered removed from the U.S., apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed by the courts. But he had remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision, with the requirement that he meet regularly with immigration authorities.
Only days before his arrest, Gibson had checked in with immigration authorities at regional immigration offices — the same building where agents have been staging enforcement raids in recent weeks.
“He would have had another check-in in a couple of months,” Prokosch said. “So if he’s this dangerous person, then, why are they letting him walk around?
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department, said earlier this week that Gibson has “a lengthy rap sheet (that) includes robbery, drug possession with intent to sell, possession of a deadly weapon, malicious destruction and theft.” She did not indicate if those were arrests, charges or convictions.
McLaughlin did not respond to questions about whether the agents’ use of force was justified.
But court records indicate Gibson’s legal history — dominated by a few traffic violations, minor drug arrests and an arrest for riding public transportation without paying the fare — shows only one felony, the 2008 conviction for third-degree narcotics sales that was later dismissed.
Prokosch said Gibson had been flown to Texas by immigration authorities in the hours after his arrest, then quickly flown back to Minnesota on a judge's order after the lawyer filed a habeas corpus petition, used by courts to determine if an imprisonment is legal. The courts have not yet ruled on the petition.
Gibson is currently being held at an immigration detention center in Albert Lea, Minnesota, after being held at a large camp on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas. according to ICE’s detainee locator.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to an email from The Associated Press with follow-up questions about Gibson's case.
Gibson’s wife, Teyana Gibson Brown, a nurse who was inside the home with the couple's 9-year-old child during the raid, was deeply shaken by the arrest, Prokosch said.
During their conversations, she “was having a hard time just completing sentences because she’s just been so distraught,” he said.
Activists who had been keeping watch on the immigration agents before Gibson's arrest banged on drums, blew whistles and honked car horns in attempts to disrupt the operation and warn neighbors, some of whom poured into the streets.
Video taken at the scene by the AP shows agents pushing and pepper-spraying demonstrators.
The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — has been convulsed by the killing of Good, who was shot Jan. 7 during a confrontation with agents.
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
City and state officials have dismissed those explanations based on videos of the confrontation.
State and local authorities are urging the public to share video and any other evidence as they seek to investigate Good’s death after federal authorities insisted they would work on their own and not share information.
More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News over the weekend that the administration would send additional federal agents to the state to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.
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AP correspondent Elliot Spagat contributed to this report from San Diego.
A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
