April 25 – The Great Dane Quits | On This Football Day

April 25 – The Great Dane Quits

MUCH told-off Danish defenders issued a huge sigh of relief today in 2001, when their tormentor in-chief, Peter Schmeichel, played his last game for the national side.

Winning his 129th cap, Schmeichel led out the Danes in a friendly against Slovenia in Copenhagen. Naturally, he kept a clean sheet in a 3-0 win for the Danish.

Schmeichel ended his international career as Denmark’s most capped player, turning out in the 1998 World Cup and four European Championships.

His finest hour between the Danish sticks came in Euro ’92 when unfancied Denmark pulled off the biggest upset the competition had ever seen, downing defending European champions Holland in the semis and then world champions Germany in the final, as they went on to lift the Henri Delaunay trophy.

The Euro 92 win was even more remarkable given the fact that the Danish only qualified after Yugoslavia had to pull out due to the outbreak of war in the Balkans and Schmeichel played a huge part in the Danish victory.

After bowing out for the national team Schmeichel returned to the Premier League, spending a season with Aston Villa and then back to Manchester, the city where he enjoyed the majority of his domestic success, but this time as a blue.

During this final phase of his career the records and accolades were rolling in, as Schmeichel made his way into Pele’s list of the 125 greatest living footballers and was also voted the greatest ever keeper in a public poll by Reuters.

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