Celtic star rated in the top 20 in the WORLD for his position in surprise new rankings
TWO stars of the Scottish Premiership have been named on a list of the top 100 players in their position in world football.
The Celtic hero of the list even breaches the top 20, coming ahead of some huge names.
And it's Kasper Schmeichel who has been placed in the upper echelons of goalkeepers in the past year, despite the wave of criticism he received in his Danish homeland.
The veteran keeper was at the centre of a storm in Denmark after he was heavily criticised for the goals conceded in his country's Nations League play-off defeat in Portugal.
One particularly hostile column which likened his performance to a 'child with polio' led to the Danish Players Union getting involved. Schmeichel is yet to comment on the furore.
But he was named in 19th place in the list created by boffins at the CIES Football Observatory, which is based on 'sporting level of matches played, results of games, as well as the deviation in the percentage of saves at domestic league level compared to the expected value given the defensive strength of their teams.'
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The Dane is the third oldest of the top 20 aged 38, behind Remko Pasveer and Fernando Muslera.
The only other goalkeeper playing in Scotland to make the top 100 ranks was Aberdeen keeper Dimitar Mitov, with the Bulgarian No.1 at 80th place.
Both are currently out injured after picking up knocks on international duty.
Schmeichel scored 80.6 on the index out of 100, while Mitov sits at 67.5.
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But Mitov actually has a greater deviation in percentage of saves made compared to expected saves than the Celtic stopper - +4.45% against +4.04%.
The Aberdeen 'keeper has 10 clean sheets this season from only 26 appearances as Ross Doohan has had to deputise while the regular man between the sticks was injured.
IN GOOD COMPANY
The top 20 goalkeepers in the world
- Gianluigi Donnarumma - PSG
- Yann Sommer - Inter Milan
- Thibaut Courtois - Real Madrid
- Stanislav Agkatsev - Krasnodar
- Mark Flekken - Brentford
- Robert Sánchez - Chelsea
- Péter Gulácsi - RB Leipzig
- João Ricardo - Fortaleza EC
- Moritz Nicolas - Borussia M'gladbach
- Robin Zentner - Mainz
- Djordje Petrović - RC Strasbourg
- Evgeniy Latyshonok - Zenit
- Lucas Perri - Olympique Lyon
- Remko Pasveer - Ajax
- John McCarthy - LA Galaxy
- Davy Roef - KAA Gent
- Kepa Arrizabalaga - Bournemouth
- Weverton Pereira - Palmeiras
- Kasper Schmeichel - Celtic
- Fernando Muslera - Galatasaray
Despite missing out for a short spell recently with injury and being replaced by Viljami Sinisalo, Schmeichel has played a bucket load more.
The son of the legendary Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has made 46 appearances this term, earning 24 shutouts in that time.
Some of the names ranking in between the two SPFL goalies include David De Gea, Kevin Trapp, Alisson, James Trafford, and former Celt Vasilis Barkas now representing Utrecht.
The top three were PSG's Gianluigi Donnarumma, Inter Milan's Yann Sommer and Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois.
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