It would be safe to say that Celtic have paid for their own mistakes in Europe in recent years. Last week, they could have easily won against Red Star if they had managed the game well. But Kasper Schmeichel rushed out of his goal at the wrong time and ended up costing Brendan Rodgers' side, allowing an eqauliser into an empty net.
The fans had called for Schmeichel to be dropped for Viljami Sinisalo. But Rodgers stuck with the experienced Dane once again. And unfortuntely, he ended up making another error in the following Europa League match vs SC Braga.
This time around, Schmeichel made a very different sort of error. One that a player of his experience should never be making.
He could not judge the flight of a ball and ended up seeing it go past him into the net, even those it was within an arm's length. It is safe to say that the fans were not happy.
Celtic player slammed for horrible error against SC Braga
One Celtic fan wrote: "The only thing worse than Schmeichel’s keeping at the Braga goal is Joe Hart tripping over himself to make excuses for him."
Chris Sutton did not mix his words either, as he made it clear that Schmeichel should have been doing much better with the effort: "Schmeichel shouldn’t be beaten from there…"
Let's see if this error ends up leading to a change for Celtic in goal. Rodgers has been reluctant to make any changes between the nets and we understand that it is hard to drop someone as experienced as Schmeichel. He is not only a proven goalkeeper but also a leader for this team.
That being said, at some point, a change needs to be made. And this has to be the point when Rodgers decides to give a bigger role to Sinisalo, who has not put a foot wrong when given a chance but continues to play second fiddle to someone who is clearly well past his prime.