SK Slavia Prague’s 2-0 Europa League win over Rangers on Thursday made headlines for the wrong reasons.
The tie had several incidents, including Kemar Roofe receiving a red card for a kick on goalkeeper Ondřej Kolář, Leon Balogun’s sending off and Slavia defender Ondřej Kúdela allegedly racially abusing Rangers’ Glen Kamara.
In his post-match interview, Steven Gerrard stressed he will “stand next to” his player as he “100 percent believes” Kamara.
Gerrard further went on to give his backing to the Rangers midfielder by stating: “I trust Glen with my life.”
Slavia Prague released a statement, in which they denied the “allegations of racism” and labelled it a “disgusting accusation”. The Czech club even went on to add the Rangers’ player assaulted Kúdela.
Slavia’s claims about Kamara launching a physical attack on Kúdela have been echoed by their right-back, Alexander Bah.
“I saw Kamara hit Kúdela in the head after the match. I have not really experienced any of the other things first hand, but I know Kúdela is the most loving guy, so I cannot imagine at all that those accusations are true,” the Dane told Bold.dk.
“As I can understand from the players around him, that was not what was said either, so it is of course a shame for Kúdela.”
Having overcome Leicester City in the previous round, Slavia defeated Rangers to make it to the Europa League quarterfinals. However, Bah reveals he and his teammates couldn’t saviour their latest win in Glasgow for various reasons.
“After the game we stood for an hour or a half out in the stadium because we couldn’t get into our dressing room as it was surrounded by fans and some of their players,” Bah explained.
“In the end we were finally able to get into the dressing room and then we were told to take a quick bath and then go together to the bus quite quickly.
“As I understood it, a lot of fans had turned up in front of the entrance to the stadium, and I think there were also some who had come in. There was a sea of police officers as we were going out to the buses, so it was a wild experience.
“We didn’t get to sing the victory song, and it was really mostly just about getting back to our hotel safely. Obviously, it put a bit of a damper on everything, but when we get home to Prague, hopefully we can celebrate a little there.”
