Singer Sir Rod Stewart prompted laughter on coverage of Celtic’s Champions League tie with Bayern Munich after he failed to recognise pundit Micah Richards, accidentally calling him “big knees”.
The 80-year-old was speaking to US outlet CBS Sports on the pitch at Celtic Park ahead of the match when he was asked a question by Richards about his team’s goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, the son of former Manchester United player Peter, who was standing beside him.
Speaking from the studio, former Manchester City defender Richards, 36, shouted: “Sir Rod, Big Meeksy here, can I just ask you, what do you think of the Celtic goalkeeper?”
Sir Rod was unable to hear him due to the crowd noise, so Schmeichel asked him if he knew who “Big Meeks” is, to which he replied: “Big knees? No.”
Schmeichel then showed him the video of the studio to which Sir Rod said: “Oh yeah of course I do, it’s Michael, Micah… thing.”
Richards burst into laughter and then repeated his question about the goalkeeper, to which Sir Rod replied: “He’s (Kasper Schmeichel) definitely up there.
“I tell you what, when (former England goalkeeper) Joe Hart left, I thought we’d find it very difficult to find a keeper of his stature, but I think the boy’s done very well.”
It came after Sir Rod, who has been a Celtic fan since childhood, told the studio: “I’ve had a couple.”
As the interview continued he told Bayern’s away support “oi, shut up I’m talking” when they began singing, told the viewing audience he hoped his team didn’t make any “cock-ups”, and told Peter Schmeichel “behave yourself” after he asked if he believed his side had a chance against the German giants.
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher also asked the former Faces frontman if he could join him at the ground if Celtic made it through to the next round of the competition.
Sir Rod replied: “Mate, of course you can, I’ll fly you anywhere in the world you want to go.”
At the end of the clip, Sir Rod, Peter Schmeichel and Carragher sang the singer’s 1971 UK number one Maggie May together, with Sir Rod’s team eventually losing the match 2-1 on Wednesday.
It comes after Sir Rod prompted similar hilarity when he was asked to conduct the Scottish Cup draw in 2017, dipping his hand into the pot to draw the balls and shouting their numbers at the top of his voice, when he drew Celtic he exclaimed “yes”.
The You Wear It Well singer has followed the sport throughout his life, and even had trials with now-Premier League club Brentford before becoming a singer. During a memorable Top Of The Pops performance of Maggie May in 1971, he and his band kicked footballs around the stage.
Sir Rod will perform in the legends slot at Glastonbury Festival this year, having accumulated 25 UK top 10 singles and 38 UK top 10 albums throughout his career as a solo artist.
The singer first rose to fame as frontman of 1970s rockers the Faces, who formed after the break-up of the Small Faces, with Sir Rod and now-Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood joining up with the band’s Ian McLagan, Ronnie Lane and Kenney Jones.
Sir Rod has also performed and recorded with the Jeff Beck Group appearing on the albums Truth and Beck-Ola.
