Celtic's Kasper Schmeichel shares retirement fear as father gives emotional reaction to 'seriously bad' injury
Celtic goalkeeper confirms devastating injury news
Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has admitted his career may be over after a scan on a shoulder injury confirmed he could be out for up to a year.
The 39-year-old hasn’t featured for Martin O’Neill’s side since the 2-1 home defeat by Hibs last month due to the issue, with Viljami Sinisalo installed in the starting XI and performing well in his absence.
Already ruled out of Denmark’s World Cup play-off with North Macedonia later this month, Schmeichel has now revealed that he won’t play again this season for club or country, and that he is facing the very real prospect of being forced into retirement.
“I was at a specialist yesterday,” he told CBS Sports Golazo. “Basically, I’m going to need two surgeries now to fix my shoulder, which is a bit of a body blow. I’ve torn my bicep, rotator cuff, labrum and dislocated my shoulder. Everything is kind of gone, it’s looking like ten to 12 months of rehab.
“You don’t know how to react to this. I could have potentially played my last-ever football game. That kind of thought is devastating. It’s very hard to wrap my head around at the moment. I’m going to give it everything to see if I can get back, it would be one of the greatest feats of my career to come back.”
Kasper’s father, former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, revealed that the veteran stopper has been playing with the injury for over a year and detailed the pain barrier his son had to overcome in order to continue performing for both Celtic and the Danish national team.
“My life and my full career, as a professional football player, has always been with Kasper,” said Schmeichel senior. “He has always been there for me. He was actually born on the day where the club I joined to become a full-time professional football player qualified for the quarter-finals in the Champions League, and that would then be my first game ever. All the way throughout my career, he has been there. Of course, I have tried to do exactly the same thing for him, so whatever situation he was facing, I tried to be there as a dad.
“I don’t want this to end with an injury like that. He broke his shoulder in a game a year ago, playing for Denmark against Portugal. We had used all five subs. He carried on. It was the quarter-final of the Nations League. He carried on playing and made one good save. But of course, you can’t play with a broken shoulder. He was out for a very short period of time.
“A shoulder injury for a goalkeeper. You can’t imagine how bad that is. Every time you dive to that side, you land on it. So, having to manage that period after, and kind of doing what you don’t want your son to do. Taking injections. Play with all the pain. Then, of course, we ended up with this. Three or four weeks ago. Played against Stuttgart. Landed really, really badly on it. Had another injection. Of course, that sparked a reaction that we don’t want. This is seriously bad.”
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