Celtic dressing room rally round error-strewn star after all-time career low in Stuttgart mauling as defiant message sounded
Beleaguered Hoops keeper was booed by the home crowd after two huge blunders in last night’s 4-1 Europa League playoff first-leg defeat to Stuttgart
Kasper Schmeichel suffered an all-time career low as he was brutally slaughtered by his own fans - but Celtic team-mate Benjamin Nygren refused to point the finger at the under-fire keeper.
And he has vowed to rally around the confidence-shot Danish international, who was at fault for two of Stuttgart’s goals as the Hoops crashed to a 4-1 loss at home against the high-flying Bundesliga outfit.
Schmeichel gifted the ball away with a dreadful clearance and was then too slow to react as Bilal El Khannouss’ tame shot broke the deadlock early in the first-half. Nygren hauled Celtic level shortly after when he pounced on a defensive mix-up to round the keeper and slot into an empty net.
But the upturn in mood inside Parkhead didn’t last long as El Khannouss was presented with a free header to nod home his second. Stuttgart then struck a killer blow and Schmeichel was once again the fall guy.
Jamie Leweling’s effort from the edge of the box saw Schmeichel misread it as the ball flashed past him into the net, prompting a furious reaction from large sections of the home support as they turned on the current No.1
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Sub Tiago Tomas rounded off a dismal night for Martin O’Neill’s men in stoppage time with a fourth to pile on the misery for Schmeichel. And while Nygren was devastated to hear Schmeichel face a chorus of angry jeers, he launched a strong defence of his colleague by claiming he wasn’t to blame for a calamitous result.
The Swede stated: “It's not nice to hear. I cannot point on one person's mistake. We're 11 players on the pitch and it's everyone's responsibility to do well. It's not one person's fault. It's the whole team. So all of the team stands together. Will he bounce back? Yes, of course. If you're an older player, you've experienced a lot in your career.”
While Schmeichel was caught in the firing line, Celtic were second best across the pitch as they slumped to a heavy first-leg defeat. However, Nygren reckons the score line was a tad harsh, saying: “I’m very disappointed. It wasn’t the result we wanted of course.”
Asked if Celtic were masters of their own downfall over the 90 minutes, Nygren sighed: “Yeah, a little bit of everything I would say. I haven't seen the situations. I just saw them live, so I haven't seen them again. I don't think it was a 4-1 game. But yeah, very disappointed.”
It will require a herculean effort from O’Neill’s side to salvage the tie next week, considering Celtic have NEVER won on German soil before. But Nygren won’t throw in the towel, stating: “Then we'll have to make it the first one! Only half of it played, so it's still 90 minutes over there and anything can happen.”
Celtic now shift their focus back on domestic duties with top-six hopefuls Hibs coming to town on Sunday. The champions have relied on three stoppage times goals to get them out of jail in recent weeks. But Nygren insists the Stuttgart result won’t impact their title prospects as they continue to chase down leaders Hearts and second-placed Rangers.
Nygren, who is now on 17 goals for the season, added: “No, that's what the manager spoke about in the dressing room. We have to drop this game as fast as possible and head our focus on the games ahead. Of course you can always learn something, but the games come very quickly now.
“So you need to have the focus on the next game. All of us wanted to do very good in this competition. Obviously today we made it very hard for ourselves, so it's very disappointing.”
Error-strewn Schmeichel backed to recover from latest mistakes
Meanwhile, Callum McGregor opted not to throw Schmeichel under the bus as he backed the veteran shot-stopper to bounce back from his latest high-profile errors.
“Everyone makes mistakes,” the skipper said. “Kasper has been amazing since he's come to the club. He'll dust that down. We win as a team and lose as a team. There's no blame, he's made so many big saves for us. He'll bounce back for sure.
“I don't think it's a 4-1 game. We had a lot of good moments, created a lot of chances, and probably the timing of their goals killed any momentum we built. It's a difficult night, but come Sunday [at home to Hibs] we have to be ready."
Defender Liam Scales is adamant the manner of the defeat won’t derail their campaign. In an awkward interview with TNT Sports, the Irishman conceded: “It was a tough game but we'll go again next week. They're a good side and they took their chances. I think we could have had a couple more as well.
“We were unfortunate with the score line but the performance wasn't there. We are always disappointed when we concede goals. It's definitely not going to derail our season.”