The antipathy towards Rangers stretches back a couple of seasons. It all started with a Europe League last-16 match between Slavia and Rangers in March 2021.
It was a heated affair which hit the headlines after then-Rangers’ player Glen Kamara accused Slavia’s Ondrej Kudela (now of Persija Jakarta) of racial abuse.
In the latter stages of the second half, Kudela appeared to whisper something in Kamara’s ear after which a scuffle broke out. Kamara claimed he was the target of racially abusive language and, following an investigation, Kudela received a 10-game ban from UEFA.
Prior to that incident, Slavia’s goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar had been hospitalised after a dangerous collision with the raised foot of striker Kemar Roofe as he ran onto a through ball. Roofe was shown a straight red for the foul and another Rangers player, Leon Balogun, was also sent off for two bookable offences before the aforementioned racism incident.
Suffice it to say, tensions were running very high in the match. The spat that broke out after the Kamara-Kudela incident continued into the tunnel after full-time and there were reportedly physical exchanges between players. Kamara received a three-game ban for assaulting Kudela.
Fast forward to late September 2021
Rangers had now drawn the other Prague club, Sparta, in the Europa League group stage. The Scottish outfit came to Prague for the second match day of the stage. Sparta were themselves serving a UEFA punishment due to racial abuse from fans aimed at then-Monaco (now Real Madrid) midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni in a Champions League qualifier that August.
Initially handed a stadium ban, UEFA allowed Sparta to grant access to thousands of children and some accompanying adults. A nice idea but they would later regret that decision.
By this point, Kamara had become somewhat of a pantomime villain in the Czech Republic for his role in the scandal involving Kudela, who had maintained innocence but dropped his appeal before a hearing at the Court of Arbitration of Sport.
During the match, the children were booing Kamara’s every touch and cheered rapturously when he received a red card in the 74th minute. You simply couldn’t write it.
It’s almost funny in hindsight but the incident flared up into a vicious media war culminating in the Czech foreign minister summoning the UK ambassador to halt the online persecution of the children caught in the middle of the furore.
It was supposed to be a meeting between two storied and glorious institutions of European football in one of the world’s most beautiful cities. It turned into a race to the bottom of sorts - an unrelenting ‘he said, she said’ culture war of words, from which both clubs managed to come away looking like less dignified versions of themselves.
It was, in a word, a real shame and going into the weeds of it only serves to add oxygen to what was an utterly unedifying quarrel.
Fast forward to today
Rangers have drawn Sparta again in the Europa League group stage and visited Prague for the third round. The big question was - have both sides moved on from the uncomfortable affairs of 2021?
A day before the match, Sparta extended a proverbial olive branch by way of a media release, hoping to pen a “new chapter” in this curious little rivalry. The right intentions? Certainly.
It's game day and the time of the year in Prague when the air is cooling quickly and the first frost is just threatening to come and cover the city in crystalline ice. Perfect football weather, really.
On the way to the ground, fans draped in Sparta scarves huddle in and around every watering hole from my front door to the stadium - there are quite a few in that kilometre-and-a-half stroll. It’s a creeping pilgrimage to one’s seat, interrupted by various foaming pit stops.
As I enter Sparta's epet ARENA, the waft of sausages on the grill twists itself into a knot with the stench of beer and wisps of cigarette smoke. These are the sensory delights that you fall in love with going to football in the Czech Republic. Certainly more than the football itself.
Both sets of fans are soon in full voice. It’s a sellout. The context of the game only adds to the atmosphere - each team in the group had a win and a loss after two rounds. It feels like a big one for two sides looking to progress to the next stage of the competition.
It’s a lovely, if a little outdated, stadium. Just a stone's throw from the iconic Prague Castle, you can see its gothic spires from the food and drink terrace. On the other side, Art Nouveau-era facades peek over the back of the stand spying on the action inside.
The floodlights gift the ground a glow from afar. Within, for a moment, you can almost get lost in it all and forget where you are. Maybe that’s the point.
A chant of ‘f*ck you, Rangers!’ led by a man wielding a megaphone booms out of the Ultras’ section as drums bang below. All in good fun. Boos and further renditions of the aforementioned line rain down as the players set up for the show. Again, nothing you don’t expect to witness at a football stadium.
Abdallah Sima - Rangers’ most exciting, and importantly ex-Slavia, forward - receives the most vociferous treatment. That rivalry runs much deeper than this one ever will. There’s another reason they don’t like him - he’s a very good player.
The hosts have the running of the first half and Rangers have keeper Jack Butland to thank for clawing away a couple of big chances.
Filip Panak, Sparta’s lithe stopper, eases between the back three and midfield - the epitome of elegance on the ball and an interesting tactical cog in the side.
Another joy to watch is attacker Adam Karabec, whose job, it seems, is to glide around Sparta's right-hand side effortlessly attempting flicks and tricks. Veljko Birmancevic is electric on the other flank.
The second half commences goalless and edges largely uneventfully towards a tense conclusion. The biggest cheer comes when Sima receives a deserved yellow with less than 10 minutes to go.
Sparta have a glorious chance to clinch it late on but it finishes 0-0. Not one for the ages but a good contest.
Thankfully, we don’t go just for the game, do we? We go to be taken away by the game. To be elevated, if you will, like the smoke from the flares that burst off after the match, drifting off into Prague’s crisp Autumn air.
What’s that smell?
Redemption.
Read a full match report here.
