Schmeichel dedicates ´emotional´ victory to Srivaddhanaprabha´s family

Kasper Schmeichel dedicated Leicester City’s 1-0 Premier League win over Cardiff City on Saturday to the family of late owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

The 60-year-old was one of five people killed when a helicopter they were travelling in appeared to lose control shortly after taking off from the King Power Stadium following last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with West Ham.

Demarai Gray’s solitary goal was enough to give the Foxes maximum points at the Cardiff City Stadium and goalkeeper Schmeichel cited their late owner’s family as the inspiration for their performance.

“I feel proud,” the Dane told Sky Sports. “It’s been a really tough week for everyone. The way everyone at the club has handled themselves is a testament to the family that Vichai built.

“The win took a lot out of us, that was tough, but I’m so proud of how everyone played, how professional it was. It was always going to be an emotional day.

“I think you come across very few people that really impact you. He had a really big impact on my life. You can see from the reaction of everybody that he had an impact on so many lives. He’s a man we’re immensely proud of, immensely proud to have known.

Forever in our hearts. pic.twitter.com/OXBAE1GBZA

— Leicester City (@LCFC) November 3, 2018

“We’re thinking about his family, we’re all hurting, but I can’t imagine what they’re going through. We wanted to do it for him and them. We hope that we did his family proud.”

Leicester’s players will now travel to Thailand for Srivaddhanaprabha’s funeral – a decision Schmeichel says was unanimous among the Foxes squad.

“Every single player wanted to go out there,” he said. “There was no pressure, everyone deals with grief in different ways. The chance to go out there and attend his funeral was offered to us and everyone jumped on that.”