Schmeichel wants to help write chapter in Celtic Scottish Cup history
Kasper Schmeichel is keen to help create another chapter in Celtic’s history as he enters his debut Scottish Cup campaign with the memories of last season’s celebrations still vivid.
Schmeichel watched on television as his friend and former Manchester City team-mate Joe Hart capped out his career with a Hampden success over Rangers in the final.
The Denmark international has already won cup glory with a League Cup triumph over Rangers last month but it just made him more motivated to go all the way in the next event.
Ahead of meeting Kilmarnock in the fourth round at Parkhead on Saturday, Schmeichel said: “I’ve been lucky enough to play and win different cup competitions, and I’ve played in different cup competitions around the world, and what it offers is something different.
“It offers the opportunity for lower league teams to play Premier League or Premiership teams, and sometimes there are iconic moments in that.
“I watched (last season’s) final, and I watched the celebrations, and I was taken aback by that, because it was amazing to watch, and definitely those kind of things are what you play football for.
“You want to play lots of matches, you want to get to those kind of opportunities where you have a chance to write yourself in history books and be a part of moments like that.
“When you think of Celtic, you think of Celtic lifting cups and trophies, and that’s part of the history, that’s part of the heritage, that’s part of the pressure of being a Celtic player now.
“You have to live up to that, and that’s a really exciting challenge, that’s a great challenge, that’s something that we all have to love, that pressure, and the history that dictates the pressure, so yeah, we enjoy that.”
Schmeichel won the FA Cup under current Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers four years ago with Leicester and the 38-year-old is determined to embrace any chance he gets to add to his cup tally.
“When you reach a certain stage of your career, and you’ve only really played in one cup final before the one we had the other week, you realise they’re very few and far between,” he remarked.
“So you realise how special they are, so you appreciate them more, you enjoy them more, and if it was possible, probably even more determined.
“It’s those kind of occasions that you get into football for, but you do realise that the work to get there is really, really hard, and it starts in the first rounds, where you just can’t go lightly, because if you do, then you don’t get those opportunities.
“So you can never take anything for granted at all, and we’re certainly not going to do that.”
Schmeichel has been a great success after succeeding Hart, who had three trophy-laden seasons in Glasgow.
But he is not looking beyond this season despite his one-year deal featuring the possibility of a 12-month extension.
“One thing at a time, one thing at a time,” he added. “I’ve never been the type of guy that’s going to sit here and say, I want to do this, I want to do that.
“Again, I’m old enough and experienced enough to know that the next game is the most important, so that’s it.”
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