It was a dramatic night in the UEFA Nations League for Celtic goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel.
On Sunday, Celtic’s number one, football icon Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes were all involved in an enthralling UEFA Nations League quarter-final clash between Portugal and Denmark.
Only days before, Schmeichel led Denmark to victory over Portugal when his nation beat Roberto Martinez’s side 1-0 in the first leg in Copenhagen.
The Portuguese needed to win the return fixture in Lisbon to book their semi-final ticket, so it turned out to be an all-action affair from start to finish.
Seven goals were scored and Schmeichel picked the ball up from the back of the net five times.
This is despite Celtic’s summer signing proving his worth after just six minutes when he denied the one and only Ronaldo from the spot, but it seems as though some people were a little too confident.
Bruno Fernandes’ actions backfire moments before Celtic’s Kasper Schmeichel saves Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty
It was Ronaldo himself who drew the foul, and after a VAR check, the on-field penalty call stood and the Al Nassr star stepped up.
In his old typical way, the 40-year-old stood strong, took a deep breath and then just behind him, you could see his former Manchester United teammate, Fernandes, already celebrating before he had kicked the ball.
Fernandes had his arms aloft and was ready to celebrate, but then Celtic’s star man between the sticks guessed correctly by diving to his left and easily saving Ronaldo’s spot-kick.
The below tweet highlights Fernandes’ actions backfiring, at the time.
Ronaldo has the last laugh over Schmeichel as Portugal beat Denmark in the UEFA Nations League
Even though Ronaldo is 40, you still can’t keep him quiet for too long and in this must-win match, he came to the party in the second half.
Fernandes’ long-range effort was saved by Schmeichel after 74 minutes, but he was unfortunate that when the ball hit the post, it came back to hit him also and Ronaldo was quickest to pounce by scoring via the rebound.
That’s when the game went goal-crazy, including Christian Eriksen putting his team ahead minutes later.
But Portugal’s firepower proved too much and they secured their UEFA Nations League semi-final passage in extra-time.
Schmeichel will now return to Glasgow where he has a Treble to win with Celtic.
