Rangers professional Glen Kamara had an unpleasant evening in Prague on Thursday – even though there were only children in the stadium for the Europa League match at Sparta.
Glasgow Rangers also lost their second game in the Europa League group stage on Thursday night, but the result, a narrow 0:1, took a back seat after the final whistle.
Instead, it was all about what Glen Kamara had experienced until he was sent off in the 74th minute. The Finnish international, who has been wearing the Rangers jersey since 2019, was booed every time he touched the ball – in a stadium where only children sat in the stands.
Hosts Sparta had been given a one-match ban after AS Monaco’s Aurelius Tchouameni was the victim of racist abuse in pre-season. However, UEFA had accepted a proposal to allow 10,000 children aged between six and 14 into the stadium ahead of the game against Rangers.
Prague has “a serious problem with racism”, writes Kamara’s lawyer
The fact that some groups of young spectators targeted Kamara was presumably related to another incident of racism: six months ago, the midfielder had been racially insulted by Czech international Ondrej Kudela during the Europa League eighth-final match against Sparta’s city rivals Slavia, and UEFA subsequently banned him for ten matches.
“Tonight shows once again that Prague has a serious problem with racism and UEFA, as usual, is nowhere to be seen,” Kamara’s lawyer Aamer Anwar let slip in a statement about the Sparta incidents. “The fact that the stadium was filled with 10,000 schoolchildren made little difference.”
When Kamara was sent off in the 74th minute, many in the stadium cheered loudly. The former Arsenal youngster had seen yellow for an arm tackle in a header duel before the break. His coach Steven Gerrard had said before the game that he had “no concerns” about the incident: “I’ve been assured everything will be fine. “
