In Denmark it’s actually pronounced “Schmy-shell” — but that’s the extent of the stunning revelations provided by Owen Davies’s worshipful and rote sports doc about the former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, now 61. Footage of all his amazing saves – the ones that won Euro 92 for the Danish national side, or led Man U to the treble in ’99 – impressively affirm the Great Dane’s greatness. The question though is how? And why?
At 6ft 4in tall, his imposing physicality obviously had something to do with it (“The span was like an aeroplane!” marvels Sir Alex Ferguson). Schmeichel’s competitive edge and total inability to abide weakness are attributed to the parenting of a tough, Polish-born father who was orphaned at a young age by the second world war; their story of estrangement and reconciliation is worthy of soap opera. But it’s the insights that the Schmeichels, senior and junior, offer into the tao of the goalie – that “position of ultimate responsibility” – which are most interesting, especially when delivered in that delightful Manc-Danish accent.
In UK and Irish cinemas
