Kasper Schmeichel says Celtic reaching knockout phase a ‘massive achievement’

Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel hailed a “massive achievement” as the club progressed to Champions League knockout football for the first time in 12 seasons.

A 1-0 win over Young Boys sealed Celtic’s place in at least the play-off round, with a seeded spot and feasibly even direct entry to the last 16 still to play for against Aston Villa in Birmingham next Wednesday.

Schmeichel has kept three clean sheets in Celtic’s seven games to help them progress to the next phase.

“It’s a massive achievement,” said the former Leicester player, who signed a one-year contract extension before Wednesday’s game. “What was it, 2012 the last time? For a club of this size, that’s where we should be. That was the aim at the start of the season.

“Champions League is the highest level and I have only played in the Champions League once before and we went through then as well. Any time you go into the highest level and take that opportunity to go through then it’s a huge thing.”

Celtic shook off the “nearly men” tag that skipper Callum McGregor spoke about on the eve of the game. After hitting the bar, missing a penalty and having three goals disallowed in a dominant first 60 minutes, they finally got the breakthrough after Reo Hatate’s brilliant through ball and Adam Idah’s run in behind led to the own goal.

But Schmeichel had been needed to make an excellent double stop as the Swiss champions improved midway through the second half.

The 38-year-old Denmark international said: “It kept it at 0-0 and gives us the opportunity to go and win but that’s what we are there for. I think it was the only real chance they had.

“We played a really good game, defended really well. I thought we were excellent first half. Second half they changed their pressing a little bit and made it a little bit more difficult for us but we kept going.

“We get a little bit of luck for the goal but the build-up is what we have been working on so it worked very well.”

Celtic have now gone five games unbeaten in the tournament since their 7-1 defeat against Borussia Dortmund.

They joined the Germans on 12 points along with Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Juventus.

Schmeichel said: “Barring one game we have been solid, we have been very good. We have had some very mature performances. In the Leipzig game we were excellent.

“I think we learned our lesson in Dortmund and bounced back really well. Sometimes you learn when you have a tough time.

“We went to Atalanta, one of the highest scoring teams in Europe, and kept them from scoring. We have kept learning.

“That’s the mark of the squad, we never get carried away, we stay humble and keep learning.”