Vaclav Cerny ‘apologises’ as Rangers controversy that ‘nobody understood’ shared
Vaclav Cerny was the man of the match for Czechia against Gibraltar on Tuesday as the Rangers ace fired them to a 4-0 victory.
Cerny opened the scoring for Czechia in the 21st minute before assisting Patrik Schick for the country’s second as they registered their second win in the group stages of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers on 25 March.
However, the Rangers star was left frustrated after he was substituted in the 79th minute, having also been replaced in a similar fashion against the Faroe Islands on Saturday, 22 March.
Cerny apologises after ‘sour’ reaction away from Ibrox
Speaking after the game, Czechia manager Ivan Hasek admitted that Cerny was ‘sour’ about being substituted with 11 minutes left on the clock, although he quickly apologised for his reaction.
The 61-year-old went on to describe the attacker as an “emotional player” after seeing him refuse to come off in Rangers’ UEFA Europa League win against Fenerbahce at Ibrox on 13 March.
| Minutes | Goals | Assists | Accurate Passes | Chances Created | Big Chances Created | Shot Accuracy | Big Chances Missed | Successful Dribbles |
| 79 | 1 | 1 | 40/51 (78%) | 8 (1st) | 3 | 2/2 | 1 | 3/5 (1st) |
Hasek pointed out how Cerny played the full 120 minutes that night despite an announcement about him being replaced by Danilo made at half-time of extra time to everybody’s confusion.
“He was sour for about two minutes, then he apologised”, Hasek said, as quoted by Czechia’s website (25 March).
“That’s just the way he is, he’s an emotional player.
“I watched him play with Rangers against Fenerbahce. At half-time of extra time, they already announced on TV that they were going to substitute him.
“He was getting a massage next door, found out and returned to the field. Nobody understood, but he didn’t substitute.
“That’s just how Venda [Cerny] is, he doesn’t want to leave the field. What was worse was that several players didn’t want to.”
Cerny to return to Rangers high on confidence
Cerny will be high on confidence when he returns to Premiership action with Rangers against Dundee on Saturday, 29 March.
Not only did the 27-year-old grab a goal and an assist against Gibraltar, but he also created the most number of chances by any player in the match (8), according to FotMob.
He also completed the most number of dribbles in the game (3/5), while also attempting a total of four shots, of which two were on target.
The Czechia international will look to replicate that performance for Rangers for the rest of the season.