Dutchman’s players ‘not distracted by racism fears’
GIOVANNI van Bronckhorst says neither he nor his players will be distracted by any potential racism concerns in tonight’s Europa League meeting with Sparta Prague.
The former Ibrox midfielder takes charge of Rangers for the first time this evening, knowing victory by two or more goals would book European football beyond Christmas.
However, the match has a controversial backstory following events during Sparta’s 1-0 win over Rangers in the Czech capital on September 30.
The home crowd — largely comprised of schoolchildren — booed Glen Kamara throughout the match, six months after the Finland midfielder was racially abused by Ondrej Kudela of Sparta’s local rivals, Slavia Prague.
Those events sparked a row that escalated to diplomatic level and prompted UEFA to launch an investigation.
European football’s governing body decided not to take any action against Sparta, drawing condemnation from Kamara’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar.
The Czechs will have an allocation of fans inside Ibrox this evening.
Asked yesterday about any worries over the situation, Van Bronckhorst said: ‘We have seen a lot of circumstances in the stands. Not only the games we played against Prague. You can see it in football.
‘It’s definitely a thing we want to get rid of, but we also know it’s hard to get rid of.
‘It’s still there. But we have to be focused on the match and we have to make sure we are performing well on the pitch. We have to be fully focused on the thing we want to do and that is to win against Prague.’
The lingering bad blood from the first game has led to Sparta alerting Czech diplomats in the UK ahead of any potential consequences from the rematch.
Sparta communications director Ondrej Kasik said: ‘It has to be said, we are approaching this match in a much different way to our normal European away matches.
‘That was made clear to us just a few hours after the first game when our club’s email and social media networks were flooded with threats and disgusting content.
‘So we are in constant contact with Czech diplomatic representatives in Great Britain and they will help us with everything we need.
‘Although the processes and communications that take place are standard, the Czech police are in contact with their Scottish counterparts and we are talking directly to Rangers. It’s all much more extensive, more intense and more detailed than usual.
‘Our job is to try to ensure that the players and the management team concentrate only on the football.’
Sparta Prague manager Pavel Vrba attempted to take the sting out of tonight’s showdown by playing down any notion of hostility between the clubs.
The Czech club have issued a guidebook to supporters making the trip to Ibrox urging them ‘to represent our club, its famous name, tradition and values’, while also warning them not to leave Glasgow city centre or wear club colours until they are inside the stadium. Reluctant to say anything to add to the tension in the build-up, Vrba was asked — via an interpreter — how he would prepare his team for the atmosphere at Ibrox.
He said: ‘I don’t think there was a problem between Rangers and Sparta in Prague, so I don’t understand why I should expect problems now.’
Asked about the supporter handbooks — which were published by Sparta Prague on the basis of information from the Czech embassy and from Police Scotland — Vrba added: ‘I think all clubs should issue some sort of handbook for their fans to teach them how they should behave.’
Sparta will be the first opponents that Rangers have faced under new boss Van Bronckhorst, but Vrba insists the change of manager at Ibrox has had no bearing on his own team’s preparation for a match between two sides locked together on four points in the battle to qualify for the knock-out phase alongside group leaders Lyon.
‘Regardless of which manager is in charge, we know that Rangers are a very strong team,’ he said.
‘It doesn’t matter much for us who is the manager. We know there is a new manager but it is still the same team. We want to proceed, so three points is our goal.’