Poland coach Sousa slams paparazzi for busting Juventus goalkeeper Szczesny smoking on eve of vital Euro 2020 clash with Sweden

Poland coach Paulo Sousa has criticized the paparazzi and media after his goalkeeper, Juventus star Wojciech Szczesny, was caught smoking a cigarette on the eve of a must-win Group E clash against Sweden on Wednesday afternoon.

The development echoes a similar occurence in England, where after an unimpressive performance for Arsenal against Southampton on New Year's Day 2015, the Pole smoked in the showers.

His manager at the time, Arsene Wenger, caught wind of the incident, fined him around $28,000 and then made sure Szczesny never played in the Premier League again by shipping him out to Roma on loan for two seasons before Juventus bought him in the summer of 2017.

Szczesny has since given his side of the story, suggesting the furor was overblown.

But after he was again busted puffing away leaving Poland's base in Sopot with a pack of cigarettes in his hand, and then a lit tab as the team left for their last outing against Spain in Seville, coach Sousa has placed the blame down other avenues.

"The worst thing for me is paparazzi taking pictures of it. We need to protect our young players and help them learn good things. This is not a good way to do it," the Portuguese insisted speaking to Bladet.

"To publish pictures of it [is not good] for our young players," he reiterated, when asked to confirm his stance.

"There are a lot of players who smoke but they don't do it in public. It was the paparazzi who took the pictures. It's much worse than a player smoking. He didn't smoke in front of us," confirmed the 1996 and 1997 Champions League winner.

Bottom of the group after mustering just a point despite boasting Bayern Munich ace Robert Lewandowski in attack, the Poles may still scrape through to the knockout phases with a positive result against the Swedes.

"We have been working hard since the first day of our training camp to be prepared," Sousa said at his pre-match press conference, on the more general theme of the match itself he has dubbed a "final".

"We also get a lot of energy from the fans. Thanks to them, we have not felt we have played away at the Euro finals, [as] they always supported us. It is a big honour for me to represent them."

"It is true that from a statistical point of view, Sweden have a better record against Poland," the tactician said of his men's foes.

"But if we look at the past, we won’t move forward. We are only focused on what is now. Sweden are a perfect team. They press very well, they are good in set-pieces. There is huge diversity in their play."

In his own correspondence, however, Szczesny did look to past examples for inspiration.

"After our first match at the 2018 World Cup, when we still had two matches ahead of us and could qualify from the group, there was no spirit in the team," the 31-year-old highlighted. 

"Here, after the first match, even though we’d put ourselves in a very difficult position, you could tell we had faith and the will to qualify.

"Mentally, it is pretty easy when you know you have to win the match. No need to speculate," he insisted.

"So the mental approach to such a game is much simpler because you don’t leave any energy for the last few minutes or the next match. You play for your life, and I think that can help us."