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Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel was in Mumbai for the Barclays Premier League Live event where thousands of fans turned up for live screening of EPL matches on big screens. Sportskeeda caught up with the legendary goalkeeper and got his thoughts on Manchester United, the ‘99 treble and the in-form David De Gea.
What are your thoughts on the Barclays Premier League Live concept and what do you think of India as a growing football base?
Of course, I like the BPL Live concept. It is brilliant that we are bringing the Premier League out to parts of the world where people don't have the opportunity to go to Premier League games live. Having it here is great. The guys who came on Saturday and Sunday had a blast, and the whole event was a great sucess, and hopefully the people would have gone back with a good impression of the Barclays Premier League.
You have worked with some great managers such as Morten Olsen and Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. How was it working with someone like Sir Alex, at a club as big as Manchester United?
I think what is very important to accept is that Sir Alex Ferguson was very crucial to the success that Manchester United enjoyed. He was an unbelievable manager, who had an idea about how things should be done, and he stuck to that, and you know, everything he's done is now part of the history books, you don't really talk about that. Simply put, he is one of the most successful managers ever.
Would you say your penalty save from Marco van Basten in the semi-finals of Euro 92 was the moment when you thought Denmark could go onto win the tournament?
To be frank, there was no moment during the entire tournament that I thought we could win it. Not till we had actually won it did I think we could win it. It was tough going, we were very lucky, and we were under the kosh against a fantastic German team whom we played in the finals. The rules of the game at the time helped us a lot. The backpass rule had not come into play then, and so, I could pick the ball up from back passes and it helped tremendously. I can't explain why it happened, but it was just one of those things, it just happened.
Who would you say was the best player you ever played alongside with?
The best player I ever played with would have to be Michael Laudrup.
Was there any moment or match during the 1998/99 season that you and the other players at Manchester United thought that you could win the treble?
(Laughs) That is not how it works! Basically, what you do, you keep prodding away, take it game-by-game, and you don’t think about what’s going to happen at the end of the season. You try to win every time you go out there on the pitch. It is only when you go into the last game of the Premier League, and you are in the FA Cup final and the Champions League final that you think you have a chance of winning three trophies. For us, we were very fortunate that we were able to pull off all three, and get those trophies back home.
It is not something that you think about in March, but only when you get into the finals do you actually think of winning it.
What are your thoughts on the Indian Super League and have you had the chance to watch any matches?
No, unfortunately I’ve not been able to watch any of the matches so far. It is very difficult to watch these games in Europe. I was involved in talks a year ago about possibly having a team to manage, but unfortunately it has been very difficult to watch any match as it isn’t broadcast in Europe.
Of course, I was interested in seeing how it was going, and now that I am here, I know the league is now in its final stages, but I’ve really not had the time to catch up on any action. I do know that it has been attracting a lot of people to the stadiums, and that is has been very popular, and hopefully it will come back next year and be even stronger.
David de Gea had to face a lot of difficulties at the start of his career at Manchester United, and now he is one of the most important members of the team. How would rate his performances for the club?
De Gea has done really well. Without any shadow of a doubt, he has been Manchester United’s most important player over the last 18 months. He has been performing consistently at a high level. It is where every football team starts, it always starts with the goalkeeper, and we have got that completely settled now. I have no doubt the defence will be worked on next to get it to a high level too.
So yeah, De Gea has been very good, and I hope he continues to perform the way he has been doing.
