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Celtic’s wait for a goalkeeper to save a penalty in regular play goes on, with Joe Hart the last to do it.
Remarkably, September 2023 was the last time we saw a Celtic goalkeeper save a spot-kick, excluding shootouts. In the time since, they have conceded eleven, with ten being scored.
That one miss was from Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, off-target and absolutely skied over the bar
But with the rest all going in, we looked at the huge sample of faced penalties in that time, and who the main culprits have been.
Where has it gone wrong for Kasper Schmeichel this season?
Let us know in the comments
Credit: Getty Images/WM Sport Media
Celtic’s penalties faced since Joe Hart
Again, is not counting penalty shootouts, of which Celtic have played in four in the time since Hart’s penalty save.
In those four, Celtic have saved just one effort: Hart against Aberdeen’s Ryan Duncan. Kasper Schmeichel saved none in his three shootouts against Rangers, Aberdeen and Kairat Almaty.
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Photo by NESimages/Herman Dingler/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
Hart saved a penalty in Celtic’s Champions League draw against Atletico Madrid, but Antoine Griezmann immediately scored the rebound.
Therefore, Hart’s save against Feyenoord at De Kuip, almost 30 months ago, is the last time a team saw their spot-kick saved against Celtic.
Aside from Watkins’ miss, Schmeichel has conceded all eight of those he has faced at Celtic. Two of those were in the same game against Borussia Dortmund last season.
Robbie Muirhead, James Tavernier, Apostolos Stametolopolous, Martin Boyle and Lawrence Shankland have all scored against him from the spot this season.
Viljami Sinisalo faced his first in a Celtic jersey in Wednesday’s 2-1 win at Aberdeen, conceding to Kevin Nisbet. Earlier this season, the Finn also conceded one against Norway’s Erling Haaland… but we’ll excuse that.
Finally, Hart conceded all three of those faced in his final season domestically, against Tavernier, Jorge Grant and Mark O’Hara.
Has he played his way into the team for Ibrox?
Photo by Harry Langer/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images
Martin O’Neill on Celtic’s Viljami Sinisalo
We’ll all be hoping that Sinisalo can buck this trend, should the Finn keep his starting place. Speaking about him after the game, Martin O’Neill sang his praises.
“I’m quite sure that every single goalkeeper has had to sit back for a while and wait for your chance, if that’s the case.
“History will tell you this.
“But Kasper’s had a great career behind him, this young lad’s trying to make a career in front of him. And I’m not saying that we’re using this as an opportunity, honestly.
“But it is and I’m sure you’ll find this an opportunity for him to impress and try and do well, to try and hold down the spot.
“The decision was made for me. It’s a battle. And why shouldn’t goalkeepers have a battle on? Outfield players, we’re changing the side around, we’re chopping and changing at different stages. We bring on substitutes, we do all of these particular things at the end of it.
“And in the long term, it’ll give whoever’s going to be managing (next season) at least an opportunity to say, let’s go look back.
“And if you’re going to have a test, it might as well be at Stuttgart away, and it might as well be at Ibrox. I knew he played at Ibrox, but I didn’t realise he’d played about five or six games at the back end of last season. And apparently he did pretty well.
“I thought he did well enough in Stuttgart to give you hope that if he was called upon at Ibrox that this would be the case.
“So I think at the minute, I thought he passed the test. But if you’re asking me if I was just coming into this and these were my first games, I’m not saying that I had any other thought. But I think that Brendan (Rodgers) was going to give him the cup games.
“I’m talking about Sinisalo at the time, and my first game was Falkirk. And I think he might have been getting that game. But when I come in, the bets are off.
“I’m going to go for the experience and what I know, because I didn’t know the young lad. So from that viewpoint, and at least he’s come through that sort of test, which is great.”
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