Kasper Schmeichel outlines hunger and hard work behind Celtic’s latest title win

Kasper Schmeichel outlined the hunger and hard work behind Celtic’s latest title win as he continues his comeback from playing through a shoulder fracture.

The goalkeeper is set to start as Celtic round off their Premiership campaign against St Mirren on Saturday.

The 38-year-old will then receive a league winners’ medal to go with the one he got with Leicester in 2016.

“I know it’s quite common up here, but at least in a normal career, it’s not a common thing to win trophies all the time,” he said.

“Each one is very special. Each one has its own characteristics. But the comparisons and the similarities are always the same. It starts with a good, solid group of guys who are incredibly disciplined, incredibly hard-working.

“It’s led by a manager who has a vision, a clear idea of how he wants to play.

“Most of all, the only thing that will ever win you anything is hard work. If you don’t have that hard work ethic, then you don’t win anything.

“The comparison that I can draw is between the groups of players are built on good, solid characters, but most of all the foundations are hard work.

“Hunger and desire to work hard is absolutely everything. There’s no success I think in any profession without a desire and a hunger to be better.

“That’s what I love about this team is that every single day you feel that. You feel that hunger, you feel that desire. People will say it looks easy from the outside, but that’s because we sometimes make it look easy because of the work that we put in.

“When you look at our physical stats, the output every single day in training, in games, that’s why we’re champions because we work harder than anybody else.

“We put in an incredible amount of effort, not just the players but the staff, everyone around the club. The whole club has to be in synergy otherwise you just don’t win.

“I can speak from experience, having won the Premier League, that’s when the whole club is functioning in perfect harmony. The cornerstone of everything is hunger and desire.”

Schmeichel returned against Hibernian last week before resting his shoulder in midweek. He suffered the injury during Denmark’s extra-time defeat by Portugal in the Nations League but kept playing.

“I have been out on the pitch for a while now but you can’t speed up a fracture heal, you have got to wait for it to heal,” he said. “Now it’s healed and training feels great and the game the other day felt great.”

Looking back to the injury in late March, he said: “We didn’t have any subs left. We were chasing the final four and I didn’t want to leave the team with 10 men.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to push through the pain barrier. Particularly when you’re playing for your country, it means the world. I wanted to get the opportunity of winning a trophy for us. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be.

“That’s part of being an international footballer. If you want to play for your country then you’re putting everything on the line. Simple as that.

“I’ve always said it, when it comes to particularly your country, it’s everything. There is nothing bigger in the world than playing for your country, captaining your country.

“If you’re in that position, you’ve got to lead by example. If it hurts, it hurts. You’ve just got to get on with it.”