Matt O’Riley is thankful for Denmark teammate Kasper Schmeichel’s ‘really nice words’ after the Celtic star made his international debut in midweek.
The Hoops midfielder was rewarded for his stunning domestic form this season with a call-up last month but was not handed his debut. He finally earned that against Northern Ireland on Monday night but O’Riley admitted it was a ‘strange’ experience given it was a personal cause for celebration while also having to deal with Denmark losing the Euro 2024 qualifier 2-0 in the end.
O’Riley cut a frustrated figure in his post-match interview with Viaplay Sports and said he could have played better than he did. But with the dust now having settled, the 22-year-old thinks he was harsh on himself. Veteran goalkeeper Schmeichel subscribed to that view too and was quick to cheer O’Riley up despite the loss for breaking into the Danish senior set-up.
O’Riley said: “Initially, straight after the game, I didn’t think I played well. I played for 60 minutes and we lost the game, the emotions are high and you think you didn’t play well.
“On further reflection and having spoken to people, I was probably too hard on myself as I’ve had some pretty good feedback from most people who watched the game, which is nice. At the same time, I have high standards and I always think I can do better.
“I got really nice feedback from Kasper Schmeichel. As a debutant, he stood up and spoke about me after the game and said some really nice words about my time in the camp.
“He said he felt I did well in the game and it meant a lot. That was before I had to speak in front of the whole room myself, which was quite nerve-racking. But Kasper was really nice towards me, as most people there were. They all made me feel so welcome which made it easy to settle in.
“It made it extra nice that Kasper said it in front of everyone too. After the game I felt quite disappointed because of the outcome. But I was maybe being quite hard on myself, as I can be in moments like that. I tend to be a bit more emotional than logical.
“But Kasper has been around for such a long time and it was nice to get the positive feedback.”
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