68 November 2020 FourFourTwoPETER
SCHMEICHELG
oalkeepers aren’t supposed
to be good at cartwheels –
especially not 35-year-old
goalkeepers. At the Olympics,
it’s likely you won’t spot any
gymnasts in their mid-30s,
standing at 6ft 4in tall and
weighing 16 stone. But Peter
Schmeichel was completely
lost in the moment.
No matter that the Dane
had previously suffered back
problems, or that he had just
spent the last few minutes
legging it up and down the
Camp Nou pitch. Manchester United had won
the 1999 Champions League Final, and he
couldn’t contain himself.
Schmeichel’s celebratory acrobatics have
gone down in history, coming only seconds
after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had flicked home
the winner. “It’s impressive, that cartwheel,”
says the goalkeeping legend now, smiling as
he chats to FourFourTwo. “And do you know
what’s impressive about it? Not that I did it –
that’s just what it is. What’s more impressive
is that the television director actually got it in
live. The camera follows me running around- they didn’t have a clue what I was going to
do, because I didn’t have a clue either, but
it’s in there. I’m very impressed with that, and
quite pleased as well!”
It’s a piece of footage that Schmeichel still
cherishes dearly – the moment he became
European champion for a second time. After
surprise success with Denmark at Euro 92, he
had helped United reach the summit of club
football and rubber-stamped his greatness
once and for all.
DENMARK, BLOODY HELL
Schmeichel is actually half Polish – his Danish
mother first met his jazz musician father on
a holiday to Poland. The couple had settled
on the outskirts of Copenhagen by the time
Peter was born in 1963.
At nine years old, people started to tell him
that he had the potential to play for Denmark
one day – such was the focus and drive that
he quickly displayed as a keeper. A sprightly
Schmeichel progressed to senior football with
Gladsaxe-Hero, before moving up to Hvidovre
in the top flight.
The club suffered the drop in 1985, despite
boasting one of the division’s best defensive
records. That allowed Schmeichel to establish
himself for Denmark’s under-21s, for whom
he played with midfielder Henrik Larsen. The
duo lined up when the Danes faced England
at Maine Road in 1986.
“I remember Peter then just as I know him
now,” Larsen tells FFT. “He was a workaholic.
He really loved being a keeper and had the
wildness in goal that everyone saw later on.
He hated losing, even when we played games
in training – and he hated it if we tried to chip
him during shooting drills.
“You could see in those under-21 matches
that he was better than the others. He had
this presence and size that was bigger than
everyone else. If you were one-on-one with“I LEFT DEnMARK ES In FIVE SEASOnS
- WInnInG HAD BEBECOM SOURCE OF EnERGY”
RK WITH FOUR TITLESTIT I
COME MY MAIn SO
him, he covered nearly every part of the goal.
Richard Moller Nielsen was our manager, and
he wasn’t blind – he knew Peter was special,
so he did everything to make him better.
Often, he’d travel to train him individually.”
Several days a week, Moller Nielsen would
get a ferry to go and work with the gloveman- years before taking charge of Denmark’s
senior side at Euro 92. Schmeichel became
talented at using techniques from handball,
often employing a star jump to make himself
big when a striker homed in on goal.
Despite his potential, though, Schmeichel
didn’t become a full-time professional until
he was 23. Even the leading clubs in
Denmark didn’t turn pro until 1978,
and his day jobs included roles at
a textile factory, as a cleaner at
an old people’s home, laying
flooring tiles at a prison, as
an advertising consultant at
a newspaper, and an office post
with the WWF – that’s the World
Wildlife Fund rather than the World
Wrestling Federation (unfortunately).
When Hvidovre returned to the top
tier, Brondby swooped. Schmeichel’s
office days were over. Four league titles
in five campaigns followed, and he also
made Denmark’s No.1 shirt his own after
breaking into their team during Euro 88.
Soon, English clubs were queueing up for
the custodian – among them QPR, Newcastle
and West Ham, while Liverpool boss Kenny
Dalglish watched him during Denmark’s 1-0
defeat to England at Wembley in May 1990.
Schmeichel was presented with two options:
the reigning champions or FA Cup holders
Manchester United, looking for a new keeper
to replace ageing Scot Jim Leighton.
“I had an agent who wanted to work with
me, and he asked me what I wanted to do,”
Schmeichel tells FFT. “I said I wanted to play
for Manchester United, so he said, ‘OK’ and
started to work on it. I grew up as a United
fan and it was my dream to play for them.”
To his irritation, he would have to wait
12 months to get his move, with Brondby
initially rejecting United’s bid.
“Obviously I had the qualities that
Alex Ferguson was looking for,” says
Schmeichel. “Knowing there was
some kind of interest, it spurred me
on to work harder, put more hours in
and put performances in. Thankfully, it
then happened for me.”
The stopper helped Brondby reach the
semi-finals of the 1990-91 UEFA Cup –
the only time they’ve ever appeared in
a European semi, where a late Rudi Voller
goal denied them against Roma – before
United finally agreed a deal that summer.Above Realising
a dream in 1991
Below “Say sorry
or you’re sacked”