Celtic’s Kasper Schmeichel revealed to be best goalkeeper in Europe for one key stat, he’s better than Ederson

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Celtic had their work cut out over trying to find a replacement for the retiring Joe Hart last summer.

Thankfully, however, they made it look quite easy with the acquisition of legendary former Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel on a free transfer.

Schmeichel has shone for Celtic this season domestically and in the Champions League. In fact, he only needs one more Premiership shutout to have 20 clean sheets and only 20 goals conceded on his record.

Of course, the great Dane has conceded plenty in Europe as Celtic came up against better opposition – but he still managed to keep three clean sheets on the biggest stage.

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Schmeichel the most accurate long passing goalkeeper in Europe

Schmeichel has also impressed in another key stat this season as outlined by the CIES Football Observatory, who have posted a tremendous piece of data on social media platform X.

Across Europe’s top divisions, Schmeichel actually comes out on top above all other goalkeepers when it comes to his long passing accuracy.

The 38-year-old from Copenhagen has so far registered an astounding long pass success rate of 68.5 percent, which is 4.5 percent more than second-placed Marwin Hitz of FC Basel.

Manchester City’s Ederson is understandably in the top 10 too, but he is surprisingly four places behind Celtic’s Schmeichel.

It’s a tremendous achievement for the Hoops star and he’ll be hoping to keep his place at the summit come the end of the season.

By that time, Celtic may have secured the Treble for the ninth time in their history and Schmeichel will have played a massive part in that.

Schmeichel is close to returning from injury

That’s despite the fact Schmeichel is currently injured with a shoulder problem which he sustained on international duty with Denmark in March.

Viljami Sinisalo has replaced him between the sticks for Celtic and the Finnish star has performed well in his superior’s absence.

However, Schmeichel was spotted with a smile on his face training at Lennoxtown before Celtic played Rangers in the Glasgow derby.

It appeared he was back in full training, so perhaps we will see his return on Saturday afternoon as Celtic host Hibs at Parkhead.