SK Slavia Prague sealed a berth in the quarterfinals of the Europa League following a 2-0 victory over Rangers at Ibrox on Thursday.
Steven Gerrard’s side entered the return leg after getting for a 1-1 draw in the first match last week.
Peter Olayinka’s 14th minute strike helped Slavia Prague take the lead and they were given an advantage after Gerrard saw two of his men receive red cards in less than 15 minutes.
Kemar Roofe was the first to be sent off in the 61st minute, after colliding his boot with the face of opposition goalkeeper Ondřej Kolář..
Leon Balogun was the next Rangers player to be sent off after he received his second yellow of the match in the 73rd minute. A minute later, Slavia capitalised by scoring the second goal of the match.
Despite making it to the last eight of the Europa League, Slavia’s Danish defender Alexander Bah admitted his side couldn’t enjoy their win over Rangers.
“I think it is difficult to describe the match, because unfortunately there were a lot of incidents that took focus from an otherwise fine match on our part. It was a hard-fought match, and so it was before the red cards. It really was a war,” Bah told Bold.dk.
“I’m quite subjective, but it’s clear that I obviously do not think that Rangers’ behaviour was right either. The first red card is probably the wildest tackle I have ever seen.
“There was a bad mood, and you had the feeling that when you had the ball, they only went after hurting you. It’s a shame the Rangers were such bad losers, for it did not suit them very well. Unfortunately, there were other things that took the focus, but we are of course happy to move on.”
Rangers will be disappointed to have gone out of the Europa League, especially after the high of winning the Scottish Premiership. Much was being made of the club’s march to success under Gerrard, and the European media expected the Glasgow club to progress further in the competition.
