Alex Rae has been noisy over the last month calling out for UEFA bans and suspensions.
Slavia Prague has been the target for the angry pundit who knows a thing or two about how UEFA operates from his own playing days.
In just his second match for the club Rae was pitched into a Champions League qualifier away to CSKA Moscow, the midfielder had arrived at Ibrox with a reputation for ‘getting stuck-in’.
With the match running away from Alex McLeish’s side Rae demonstrated his commitment to the cause by taking a kick at the head of Serguei Dadu who was on the ground at the time.
Fortunately for the man who had just agreed a £569,000 Disguised Remuneration deal with Dave Murray the incident was missed by the referee with Rae staying on the park for the 2-1 defeat.
Alex Rae got 5 games for this.
It was appealed, of course.
The cry was no detergent, and here we are. https://t.co/sLlQIHqrIp pic.twitter.com/HkjcVplQYH— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) April 14, 2021
On 16 August 2004 UEFA reported:
Rangers FC midfielder Alex Rae has been banned for five matches by the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body.
The action has been based on video evidence from the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie against PFC CSKA Moskva in Moscow on 10 August. The tape showed that the 34-year-old Scottish international kicked the head of an opponent during the game at the Lokomotiv stadium.
Injury risk
UEFA regulations allow the use of video evidence to deal with offences that are not seen by the referee and assistant referees. The Control and Disciplinary Body took into account that the action could have resulted in serious injury to the CSKA player, Moldovan striker Serguei Dadu.
The return leg at Ibrox, without Rae, ended in a 1-1 draw with McLeish’s side knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers.