Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has refused to blame Cameron Carter-Vickers for the own goal that gifted Club Brugge the lead on Wednesday evening.
Instead, the experienced Dane suggested that winger Nicolas Kuhn could have passed to him directly and pointed to the roaring Parkhead crowd as a factor in the miscommunication.
The mishap began with Kuhn under pressure deep in Celtic’s half. Schmeichel made himself available as a wide option, but the German opted to pass to Carter-Vickers instead.
Assuming his goalkeeper was positioned in the box, the defender blindly played the ball back toward goal, only to realise too late that Schmeichel had vacated his position. The result was a calamitous own goal that left the home crowd stunned.
Despite the unfortunate sequence, Schmeichel defended his teammate, highlighting the circumstances that contributed to the mistake.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, the Danish international said:
“It’s one of those things. I am showing for Nicolas [Kuhn]. I think Nicolas could have passed to me. I think he does well to get the pass to Cam [Carter-Vickers], but he is surprised by it and obviously he is getting pressed. It is so loud in here that he hasn’t heard me. It is one of those things. We just move on—it happens.”
Asked whether a draw was a fair result, Schmeichel admitted Celtic fell short in the first half:
“Probably, on reflection. We weren’t ourselves in the first half. We didn’t get up to the tempo of the game or play at the intensity that we know we can. Luckily, we had half-time to change that and change our press a little bit, and things got better in the second half.”
When asked about his overall feelings on the result, the former Premier League winner added:
“Yeah, reasonably. There were chances to win and chances from them as well. Reasonably happy.”
Schmeichel’s measured response underlined his leadership, as he refused to dwell on the error and focused on the positives from the second-half recovery.
