Is Celtic’s Champions League campaign about to come to an end?
On Tuesday night, Brendan Rodgers’ side will be in Bavaria, seeking to knock out six-time European champions Bayern Munich.
Having lost the first leg 2-1 at Parkhead, the Celts have a mountain to climb, although Daizen Maeda’s late header in Glasgow does give them a glimmer of hope.
So, if the Hoops are going to massively upset the odds by winning in Germany for the very first time, this will be their 13th attempt, they’ll need their goalkeeper to put in another outstanding performance.
Kasper Schmeichel: loving life at Celtic
As noted by Kurtis Leyland of Glasgow World, when Schmeichel joined Celtic last summer, replacing Joe Hart who had retired, few doubted that the Dane was a ‘top-class’ goalkeeper, but there were still some doubts, given that he is now 38-years-old.
On the contrary, as noted by Graeme McGarry of the Herald, he has been ‘outstanding’ since arriving in Glasgow, with Schmeichel himself saying this week that “experience is the biggest gift” in football.
He started with six successive Premiership wins and clean sheets, the first time Celtic have achieved that since 1906, and he has a few more records in his sights.
In this season’s Champions League, only seven goalkeepers have made more saves than Schmeichel’s 30, only four have faced more than his 45 shots on target, with the Danish international recording the fifth-highest post-shot xG figure of 15.5, a tally only bettered by four keepers.
Domestically meantime, he ranks first in the Premiership for save % (85.5%) and clean sheets (19), on course to smash the top division clean sheet record of 25, set by Rangers four seasons ago, themselves beating the previous record that had stood for 115 years.
Schmeichel’s form has already seen him rewarded with a new contract, stating that he has “loved every minute” since arriving at Celtic, while manager Rodgers added his “top keeper” has “made a great impact”.
Nevertheless, the 38-year-old will not be able to go on forever, but have Celtic already sold the perfect heir to Schmeichel’s number one throne?
Celtic already sold the perfect Schmeichel successor
Back in 2020, fair to say Celtic were having some goalkeeping issues.
Summer signing Vasilis Barkas did not impress, with former Celtic striker Frank McAvennie describing him as ‘awful’, form that saw the Greek international dropped, but his replacement Scott Bain didn’t convince much either – having played just 78 times since signing in 2018.
So, ahead of the 2020 Scottish Cup Final against Hearts, taking place in December due to Covid-19, Neil Lennon decided to go with a relatively unknown 22-year-old Conor Hazard in goal, making just his third senior appearance.
Well, after a thrilling 3-3 draw at an eerily empty Hampden, as noted by Andrew Smith of the Scotsman, Hazard would prove to be the ‘hero’, denying both Stephen Kingsley and Craig Wighton in the subsequent shootout, as the Celts completed an unprecedented quadruple treble.
Despite his heroics, Hazard would make just four more appearances for the club, spending 2022 on loan at HJK Helsinki, winning the Finnish title as well as being named Veikkausliiga goalkeeper of the year, before being sold to Plymouth Argyle in July 2023 – for a reported fee of just £500k.
Well, the Northern Ireland international was back in the news earlier this month, making four saves as the Pilgrims historically dumped Liverpool out of the FA Cup, with Sunaadh Sagar of ESPN describing his stop at the end of stoppage time as ‘stunning’.
In this season’s EFL Championship, only seven goalkeepers have a higher save percentage than Hazard’s 73.8%, averaging almost 4.5 saves per 90, while the Northern Irishman ranks first for post-shot expected goals per shot on target, all impressive statistics considering his team are 23rd in the division, facing rock-bottom Luton on Wednesday night.
According to Transfermarkt, he is now worth €1m (£830k), his highest-ever value; for comparison, Schmeichel’s value is €750k (£620k).
Keith Bailie of the Belfast Telegraph believes Hazard should be his national team’s number one, so will Celtic also rue the day they allowed him to leave, because the 26-year-old is showing he would’ve been more than capable of succeeding Schmeichel one day?
