Celtic are coming off a positive weekend of results. Hearts losing and the Hoops getting the better of Motherwell has meant that they are now just two points away from the league leaders with eight games left to be played.

The Hoops were handed some bad news this week as well though. It looks like Kasper Schmeichel's career might be over, after aggravating an injury that has been troubling him since last season.

Schmeichel had actually made a pretty good start to life at Celtic. But he has never looked the same since picking up an injury towards the end of last season while away on international duty with Denmark.

According to ESPN, Schmeichel has been playing through the pain since hurting his left shoulder last year. He aggravated the problem against VfB Stuttgart last month.

That could lead to the end of his career, as Schmeichel is staring at a year-long rehab process just to get back on the pitch. Take into account that he is 39 years old already.

While speaking to CBS Sports Golazo Network, Schmeichel said: "I'm going to need two surgeries now to fix my shoulder.

"It's a bit of a body blow. I've torn the bicep, torn the rotator cuff, dislocated the shoulder, torn the labrum -- everything's kind of gone. It's looking like 10-12 months of rehab.

"You don't really know how to react to this. I could have potentially played my last ever football game. I've been a footballer since the day I was born. That kind of thought is devastating. It's very, very hard to wrap my head around at the moment."

Schmeichel has been out of the Celtic team for a little while, with Viljami Sinisalo starting in his place. Initially, many had thought that he had been dropped because of his lack of form. Even when news of his injury was confirmed, nobody could have predicted this to be the outcome.

At the same time, Chris Sutton decided to call out Schmeichel for what he felt was selfish behaviour on the part of the Danish goalkeeper. As reported by the Daily Record, the former Celtic striker said: “It’s just like Celtic weren’t in the equation with this as such.

“It just seems to be his desire to play at the World Cup. I may be wrong, but I didn’t hear him mention Celtic once.

“There’s clearly been something a bit wrong with him this season. Whether it was age or mobility or whatever it is, it comes to us all.

“But I don’t necessarily think a player should be putting their own ambitions above the team and the club, that’s selfish. Like it or not.

“I like him and admire him, but that’s just selfish behaviour really and it hasn’t served Celtic well this season, has it?

“I suppose Schmeichel will think he’s entitled to get it out there as he sees fit, but it just seemed to me that Celtic were secondary, have been the secondary.

“I might be wrong and he’ll have to explain it himself, but it seemed to me he’s using Celtic for his own cause and playing when he’s not 100 per cent."

It is just a matter of perspective, to be honest. In the past, many players have been hailed for playing through pain and injuries.

At the same time though, Schmeichel clearly has been nowhere near his best for quite some time now. In fact, now that we know the extent of the issue, we can easily point towards that injury in the second half of last season while he was away on international duty. Everything went downhill after that.

Schmeichel has not really helped Celtic this season. His performances have been below par for the most part. He has cost the club games and points throughout the campaign. They might have been a better spot if Sinisalo had been the starter from the get-go.

Anyways, it is what it is. At this point, the most important thing is that Schmeichel goes on to have a successful and full recovery. If this is the end of his career, it has been a phenomenal one.

He was part of that Leicester City team that won the Premier League. He also turned out for clubs like Celtic, Nice, Anderlecht, Leeds United, Manchester City and more. He made 120 appearances for Denmark at the international level as well, just nine short of his legendary father.

We can only wish him the best of luck moving forward and hope he succeeds, whatever the next step is for him. Best wishes, Kasper.

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