Slavia Prague have turned their dramatic visit to Ibrox into a television documentary.
After a 1-1 draw at home in the Round of 16 of the Europa League the Czech side were expected to exit the competition with Steven Gerrard’s side strong favourites to progress with some Scottish pundits tipping the Ibrox side to go on and win the competition.
Slavia set the early pace in the return leg and took the lead in the 14th minute through Peter Olayinka as the home side suddenly realised that the game would be no push-over.
Within 15 minutes in the second half Gerrard’s side completely folded. Kemar Roofe and Leon Balogun were sent off, it is more than two years since a Scottish referee reached for a red card against an Ibrox star while Slavia doubled their lead.
In the closing minutes and after the final whistle things escalated badly with Glen Kamara handed a two match ban for an incident in the tunnel area as Slavia called in the Czech Embassy to ensure their safe exit from the stadium and return to Prague.
Covering the documentary the Daily Record reports:
Kolar (goalkeeper Ondrej) – who suffered a fractured skull after a challenge from Roofe which earned the Jamaica striker a four-match ban from UEFA – claims he came close to tragedy.
He said: “The doctors told me if I had turned round even slightly when the incident happened, I would have been dead on the spot. Every time I see the tackle, I think of what might have happened. You could say I survived my own death.”
Meanwhile Olayinka, who will play alongside Aribo at the African Cup of Nations next week, added: “I think this match was the worst I have ever been involved in. Those Rangers guys must have been rugby players. I don’t know what sport they were playing, but it definitely wasn’t football.”
Slavia lost out to Arsenal in the last eight with Villarreal winning the competition on penalties after beating Manchester United on penalties.
4 game ban? The hun thug should have been booted out the game permanently.
Two tackles in football that had they happened outside of a stadium would have carried lengthy prison sentences for the perpetrator for GBH:
Schumacher on Battiston in 1980 World Cup semi and Roofe on Ondrej reported here. Both were shocking acts of life threatening thuggery.