Slavia GK claims he’ll wear helmet for rest of his career after Kemar Roofe’s Rangers challenge
Slavia Prague goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar says that he will don a protective helmet for the rest of his career after a challenge made by Rangers forward Kemar Roofe.
Kolar, 26, was stretchered off the Ibrox pitch in the Europa League second-leg tie between the sides on March 18 after a high boot by Roofe caught him square in the face.
The Gers ace was handed his marching orders for the foul, just six minutes after he came on as a second-half substitute.
The Slavia stopper was subsequently ruled out of their next two games and it has taken three weeks for him to return to first-team action, as he did at Arsenal on Thursday.
He did so with a helmet on his head and masking on his face.
Via his Twitter profile, Czech journalist Jan Dockal relayed a quote from Kolar on television where he made a strong assertion: “I will be playing with a helmet until the end of my career,” he said.
Recognise Roofe’s error
We struggle to hold much sympathy with Slavia given the racism row that has dominated the news in recent weeks after Glen Kamara alleged that defender Ondrej Kudela had racially abused him.
There have been some really deplorable comments from their side on events that took place at Ibrox in March.
We haven’t got much to explain or apologise for, the onus is on them to sort themselves out and for UEFA to hold them accountable for their actions.
But the Kolar injury is one where we, principally Roofe, have to hold our hands up.
It was a poor challenge, not a nasty one, but it was reckless and dangerous.
His foul can probably explained by the adrenaline of just coming on in a high-profile clash and chasing down a hopeful ball – it is pretty commonplace in games for goalkeepers and strikers to come into contact, and it is usually the latter that comes off worse.
Roofe got his punishment for this as he was sent-off and that crippled our chances of progressing into the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Now we’re waiting for justice to be meted out to Kudela and Slavia.
In other Rangers news, Slavia chief shares hospital image of a bloodied Ondrej Kudela.