Slavia Prague release accusatory Rangers and Glen Kamara statement as Ondrej Kudela offers bizarre explanation

Slavia Prague defended their player Ondřej Kúdela after he was alleged to have racially abused Glen Kamara.
Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara was visibly upset. Picture: SNSRangers midfielder Glen Kamara was visibly upset. Picture: SNS
Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara was visibly upset. Picture: SNS

The Rangers midfielder was visibly upset towards the end of the Europa League clash at Ibrox which finished 2-0 to the visitors.

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“I 100 percent believe what Glen is saying in terms of the accusation,” he said. “Other players around him heard it so I will stand toe to toe with Glen Kamara and I’ll deal with this however Glen wants to deal with it. This situation is over to UEFA now. I just hope it doesn’t get brushed under the carpet.”

The Rangers boss was also upset with Slavia’s reaction to the incident, the Czech club branding Kamara and the Scottish champions liars.

“The disappointing thing for me is there is people trying to defend the opposition player," he said.

“Their people, trying to defend it, trying to defend him, calling us liars.”

The statement

In doing so, they made accusations and complaints against both Kamara for ‘assault’ and Rangers for “malicious play”, while offering a somewhat bizarre explanation of what was said by their player.

The statement read: “Slavia resolutely denies the disgusting accusation of one of the team captains Ondřej Kúdela of racist behaviour. Already the founders of our club gave us crest where white colour means “the purity of the idea of sports and fair contest where the rival is not our enemy, but respected opponent.” Today, Slavia is an international club based on respect for our opponents and mutual respect of all people and cultures.

“After one of the brutal fouls, Ondřej Kúdela spoke to one of the Rangers players. “I told him ‘You fucking guy’. It was said in emotions, but I absolutely deny there was anything racist in those words,” Kúdela stated.

“Slavia players faced an unprecedentedly malicious play from their opponents. They have never experienced such play in any game they participated in modern history of the European competitions. Many brutal tackles resulted in injuries of our players. Goalkeeper Ondřej Kolář was taken to hospital with ten stitches on his head.

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“After the end of the game, the team was not allowed to enter the dressing room. Ondřej Kúdela was assaulted by player Kamara and hit with fists in the head when Rangers manager Steven Gerrard witnessed the incident. Even the UEFA representatives who were also present on the site of the incident were shocked by this behaviour.

“The team is now safe accompanied by the Scottish police.”

Investigation

The statement followed a message from Slavia’s chairman Jaroslav Tvrdik on Twitter, defending Kúdela .

He expressed his desire for a “detailed investigation” into the situation

“Slavia categorically opposes the fact that the player Ondrej Kudela racially insulted the players' opponents in any way.

"It tells us that our player was physically attacked after the match.

"At the request of Slavia, the case was resolved by the local police. We would like to see a detailed investigation of the whole situation by UEFA.”