“My friend Kasper is a strong, diligent worker and winner.”

Before Denmark’s Euro 2024 match against England on Thursday, I haven’t heard Kasper Schmeichel talk, but I know precisely how he will be feeling.

Since he wouldn’t be here otherwise, he will believe that he is the finest goalie in the world, that he is still at the top of his game, and that he can still have an impact on his nation.

I have a long history with Kasper dating back to our first meeting in February 2006, when he was on loan at Bury from Manchester City and I was playing for Shrewsbury.

It’s amazing to see how things have changed for both of us during our careers—back then, we were just two teens playing our first League Two professional games.

He is my age, thirty-seven. He is really five months older, and I think it’s great that he’s still performing on the biggest platform.

Since he departed Leicester in 2022, he may have faded from memory in England. I know from personal experience that, in our country, if you are not in the Premier League, people tend to believe that you are forgotten.

However, like me, a great number of people will be watching the game on Thursday and will value Kasper for who he is—both as a player and a person.

His strength and physique are his main assets as a goalie. At an early age, he developed into an amazing athlete, and he has been that way ever since. He can accomplish things that many other keepers are unable to, and he is forceful and outspoken.

In addition to his physical characteristics, I am aware that his mindset has greatly influenced his professional achievements and the means by which they were attained.

Without having a tremendous enthusiasm for the game, you don’t stay at the top for as long as he has.

Though we first faced one other as rivals, Kasper and I quickly bonded as teammates at City when I joined them a few months after that Gay Meadow match. We were always close friends, never rivals, from the beginning.

When I initially arrived at the training site at City, Kasper was the first person to greet me. In reality, he was waiting for me to enter the building. That was really important to me, and I will never forget it.

It was extremely significant to me at the time because of his name. I wish I could only talk about Kasper, but you can’t deny that his father was the legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who I greatly admired.

That opened some doors and started some talks for Kasper, but what about the others?

You might argue that he had it worse since he was aware that, even before he entered the game, people were criticizing him for being who he was.

forth return, he put forth more effort than anybody else, paved his own route, etched his name in Premier League annals, and amassed over 100 caps for Denmark.

He has always had that mentality, which has contributed to his amazing qualities as a goalkeeper—he is tough, hardworking, opinionated, and determined to stick by his convictions.

All of this was a part of his path from League Two to the Premier League with Leicester, whether it was through his loan transfers at every level or his willingness to take chances and move down a tier to play first-team games.

Because he has never ceased wanting to achieve more, he has developed his profession in the manner that he has. We were similar in that sense as I also had a career influenced by the same type of desire.

When we were younger goalkeepers, we were different in how we defined our objectives.

We would discuss our hopes for the direction that our adventure might take. Kasper was extremely forward and honest when he stated that his goal was to win the Premier League, but my strategy was to make the daily decision to pursue my goals regardless of where my career took me.

Even after I started winning with City, I kind of continued to live that way throughout my career. I didn’t care whether I went higher or lower since there were no boundaries. I believed that I could play at the highest level, whether I was representing England in the World Cup finals or Shrewsbury Town in League Two.

From our early days together at City, Kasper and I also shared a similar work ethic.

I never allowed my work ethic to suffer or my attitude to be questioned, regardless of the positive or negative outcomes I had in football, and Kasper never allowed anybody else to do the same.

That’s likely one of the reasons we both reached the peak of our careers at age 37, but I never considered myself to be exceptional, and Kasper would undoubtedly agree if you asked.

I never felt like I had to push myself because I never saw football as a sacrifice. Rather, it was my life, and it had immense significance.

I had always liked trying to be the greatest, from the days Kasper and I were youngsters at City until a few weeks ago, when my last season with Celtic was coming to a conclusion.

When you reach a certain age as a goalie, the impact of the dives you have done on your body becomes more noticeable than the mileage in your legs.

You can’t carry on for any other reason than that you just do it because you want to.

Even though I have retired, I am happy that Kasper is still alive and well. He views every game as a teaching tool, and he’s still eager to learn more.

In Berlin, Joe Hart was chatting with Chris Bevan of BBC Sport.