Celtic finished off their US Tour with a superb performance and a convincing 4-1 win over Chelsea last night.
Goals from Matt O’Riley, Kyogo Furuhashi, Luis Palma and Mikey Johnston put Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea to the sword and the icing on the cake of an excellent two weeks in the States.
The Celtic team will now head back to Scotland full of confidence ahead of the new Scottish Premiership season and the fans are buzzing after watching Brendan Rodgers’ side score 12 goals and concede just four in the tour.
Now that Celtic have faced and taken care of two of the top teams in the English Premier League, it was the performance of Kasper Schmeichel that had the Celtic fans purring and had them comparing the big Dane to treble-winning, Joe Hart.
Celtic fans hail Joe Hart ‘upgrade’
Replacing Joe Hart was never going to be an easy task for Rodgers this summer. The veteran goalkeeper was a hero to the Celtic fans but after watching Schmeichel last night, the supporters are convinced of one thing.
One Celtic fan hailed the signing as a great piece of business by Rodgers, “Signing Schmeichel was a masterstroke.” whilst another Hoops supporter used a superb Star Wars analogy to describe Schmeichel’s work with the back four, “It was perfect Schmeichel performance. Controlled the backbone of the team and shouted instructions like a true Jedi master.“
Whilst another believes the big Dane can play for as long as Gianluigi Buffon:
Another fan was over the moon with how solid Celtic coped with Chelsea’s press with Schmeichel at the heart of the defence:
Another Celtic fan believes Schmeichel could be the best signing for a long time by Celtic, “By the way, Schmeichel is going to be one of the best signings we’ve made in years; he’s already looking better than Super Joe“.
And as for the league title, one Celtic fan predicts, “Kasper Schmeichel is gonna win us this league, isn’t he? Massive presence on the pitch. Perfect replacement for Joe Hart.“
I know this is just pre-season and there is a bit of reality needed when it comes to assessing these games and the performances of the players but Schmeichel looked rock solid at times against Chelsea last night.
Some of the saves he pulled off in the first half alone were just top notch and it looks like Rodgers has completed a great piece of business in acquiring Schmeichel on a free transfer this summer.
With the new league season set to kick off for Celtic next Sunday, there is no doubt the fans have huge confidence in the new summer signing’s ability to replace Hart.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
