Kasper Schmeichel turned 39 today (November 5), and as he returns to his home country, the Celtic goalkeeper is hoping for a birthday present in the shape of three Europa League points when the Hoops take on FC Midtjylland tomorrow night.

The experienced keeper, who is normally on international duty when he plays in Denmark, is looking forward to the game against a side which has won its opening three Europa League fixtures.

Victories over Sturm Graz, Nottingham Forest and Maccabi Tel Aviv have put the Danish side top of the league phase table with nine points, while Celtic have taken four points from their first three fixtures.

And on the back of two good wins over Falkirk and Rangers, the Hoops will be looking to take that momentum into Thursday night’s game.

Speaking at FC Midtjylland’s MHC Arena tonight: ““Like the gaffer has said, a lot of things are a lot easier when you get the confidence of winning games, and one of the first things the boss said was to remind us that we are a very good team.

“And I think that was one of the issues with us was that we were probably lacking a bit of confidence, because we were creating chances but we just weren’t sticking them away.

'Even the other day, we probably shouldn’t have gone to extra-time because we had enough chances within the game to finish it in normal time.'

“But that confidence always helps massively and when you’ve got very good players like we do, then that’s how you transform those near misses into wins.

“I always love playing back home in Denmark although the only chances I usually get are for the national team – I’ve never played club football back here – I’ve been here a few times but sat on the bench, so to come back to Denmark is nice and it’s always good to be home.”

Kasper Schmeichel: It's good to be back home