Peter Schmeichel has confessed that his decision to leave Manchester United after their legendary Treble was a mistake.
The revered goalkeeper bid farewell to the club in the summer of 1999, with the unforgettable 2-1 Champions League final victory against Bayern Munich marking his final appearance for the Red Devils. With Roy Keane suspended, Schmeichel had the honour of captaining the team during the match, allowing him the privilege of lifting the trophy following the dramatic late goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
During his eight-year stint at Manchester United, Schmeichel amassed an impressive collection of 10 major trophies, solidifying his status as one of the Premier League's all-time great goalkeepers.
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Despite announcing his plans to depart upon the expiry of his contract in November 1998 and subsequently joining Sporting, where he clinched a league title in his first season, Schmeichel expressed regret over his departure from his lifelong beloved club. Reflecting on his career and decisions in Amazon Prime Video's new documentary '99', the now 60-year-old shared his sentiments, reports the Mirror.
"I feel privileged wearing that armband in the Champions League final. I've been a Manchester United supporter all my life since I was a small child," Schmeichel revealed in the documentary.
"You know, I think back to it now, I don't think I made the right decision to leave. I just didn't know any better at the time."
After his two-year spell with Sporting, the former goalkeeper returned to English football with Aston Villa in 2001, only to then make a controversial move to former neighbours Manchester City.
The choice to join United's fierce rivals caused a stir among some of his old team-mates, and Gary Neville has not forgotten Schmeichel's decision, expressing his feelings in 2018. The ex-United defender said: "He left Man United at the age of whatever he was, 35, and he said he was retiring, basically to go abroad.
"At the time when he came back, he played for Manchester City. You can't play for Manchester City. I'm a United fan and I can't play for Manchester City, I can't play for Leeds and I can't play for Liverpool.
"That's just written in stone. You just don't play for those clubs, irrespective of what happens. He'd won the treble with United in '99, said that he was retiring... he should have carried on playing for United for the next two or three years if that was the case. We struggled for a keeper between Peter and Edwin [van de Sar]."
99 is available exclusively on Prime Video, and all three parts have now dropped globally.
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