KASPER SCHMEICHEL slammed his own Danish teammates for underestimating Belarus ahead of Tuesday’s huge Hampden decider.
Scotland will qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 28 years if Steve Clarke‘s side can beat Denmark in Glasgow.
The Danes would have clinched qualification at the weekend had they managed to defeat a Belarus side they hammered 6-0 away just last month.
And the veteran Celtic keeper reckoned complacency crept into their squad.
He said: “I say it all the time – you should never expect to win a football match, because there are no easy matches.
“It is not easy to win games at this level and you should not underestimate your opponent.
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“We had beaten Belarus 6-0 last month and before the game I said in the dressing room that we shouldn’t think it would be easy.
“They also have a skilled coach and some analysts who have seen what went wrong and have been able to come up with a new plan.
“So it’s an incredibly disappointing result.
“I don’t know if I would say we were shaken, but we were supposed to try to reset after their first goal and we didn’t.”
And the 39-year-old knows what he’s up against this week at Hampden.
He said: “On the bus ride back to the hotel, we can really think about the game. Then we have to move on, because there is a huge game waiting for us on Tuesday.”
And his international teammate, former Manchester United star Christian Eriksen, was gutted they let Scotland fight another day.
He said: “We now have to put this right on Tuesday.
“We controlled most of the game and didn’t give them any chances to score.
“They had two chances and took them both.
“We should have scored many more goals though. We know that.”
The hosts will head to Hampden with a mixture of emotions following on from the weekend’s Greece defeat.
A poor defensive performance saw Clarke’s men 3-0 down with around 25 to go, but the players found it in them to score two quickfire goals.
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The chances were there to complete the comeback but couldn’t be taken, with 3-2 the final score.
While it was perhaps deflating to not get a result, the Danes’ draw made sure the Scots are still just one home win away from the 2026 World Cup with one point separating the sides in the group.
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