Rangers announce 150th celebrations with Arsenal friendly this summer
Rangers will play Arsenal in a special commemorative friendly this summer to celebrate their 150th anniversary, and the news comes the day after a poignant gesture by the Gunners.
Announced by Rangers on Twitter the Premier League side will visit Ibrox on July 17 to partake in the celebrations, and it comes less than 24 hours after some powerful scenes in Prague.
Mikel Arteta’s side played the second-leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie with Slavia Prague last night and trounced them 4-0 to emerge 5-1 victors on aggregate.
Slavia have become sworn enemies of the Light Blues after Ondrej Kudela racially abused Glen Kamara in their Ibrox clash on March 18, with the Czech side berating the Finland international and his recollection of the abuse that took place.
UEFA handed Kudela a 10-match ban on Wednesday and the clash between Arsenal and Slavia the following night saw both teams adopt different pre-match routines, with the home side standing together on the centre circle.
Arsenal, along with the referee, chose to kneel down after receiving the green light from UEFA [Guardian] and their captain Alexandre Lacazette knelt down in direct vision of the Slavia players and stared them down intently.
BT Sport posted the video on Twitter with the caption “Lacazette” followed by a fist emoji and love heart before a still with “A powerful image.”
Power of football
This fixture was surely in the pipeline for a while but even if it was it’s great to see the strengthening of a relationship with another elite club who have shown support for Rangers and more importantly Kamara.
He was an academy graduate at the North London sides and still holds some affection in club quarters.
We have to say a big thank you and massive show of respect to Lacazette who became a symbol of the ongoing fight against racism with his powerful stance against Slavia.
Indeed it was he who asked to take that approach [Guardian] and it was a powerful move that sent chills down our spines and reminded Slavia and Kuedla of the indelible stain they have left on the beautiful game.
Hopefully these sorts of images and further forging of friendships send a clear message to the world that we will always fight back against racism and it will never win.
We’re looking forward to see the Gunners in Glasgow in a few months time where hopefully a large crowd of supporters will be present to take in a historic celebration of 150 years.
In other Rangers news, Piers Morgan takes Slavia to task in withering five-word put down.