Kasper Schmeichel had almost seen it all before making his move to Celtic.
Between winning the Premier League and FA Cup at Leicester – the latter under Brendan Rodgers – and reaching the Euro semi-finals with his country, the experienced stopper has had quite the career.
It’s always intriguing, therefore, when highly experienced players who have played at the top level like Schmeichel and Joe Hart make the move to Celtic. What will they make of Scottish football?
England wasn’t the only country the Dane had played in prior to coming to Celtic Park – he had also experienced France and Belgium, with Nice and Anderlecht respectively.
When speaking on the Scottish game after his country’s goalless draw with Steve Clarke’s side however, Schmeichel’s words on what he has observed while at Celtic were interesting.
Kasper Schmeichel says Scotland underestimate themselves
Schmeichel didn’t have a great deal to do on a night which was fairly lacking in goalmouth action – much like Celtic’s last two matches.
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But after the game, he was gracious in his words on the opposition – making one thing that he has noticed whilst living in Scotland clear.
Speaking to BBC Scotland, he said: “I definitely wasn’t surprised [about how Scotland played]. Scotland are a good team.
“Living there, I think that they maybe underestimate themselves sometimes. But we were in no doubt that it was going to be a tough game.
“Good players, very organised, very disciplined, very difficult to break down. So we knew it was going to be tough, we knew we would have to be on top of our game to beat them. In the final third, we didn’t create enough.”
Kasper Schmeichel’s Celtic role more important than ever
Given the positivity with which the Denmark stopper spoke about the Scottish game, it’s fair to guess that he is enjoying his life here.
Now aged 38, Schmeichel first experienced the league 18 years ago, when he had a six-month loan spell at Falkirk under former Celtic man John Hughes.
His Celtic spell will have been a wildly different experience, and despite the team’s failure to qualify for this season’s Champions League, high-level European football is still on the menu this campaign.
With lots of negative talk surrounding the club at the moment, Rodgers will be hoping that an experienced leader in Schmeichel can help the team focus on improving the mood with results.
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