Kamara suffered alleged racist abuse during a Europa League game in midweek
Celtic captain Scott Brown has shown his support for Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara ahead of today’s Old Firm derby, when he walked over to the Finnish international and embraced him while warming up.
Kamara was the victim of alleged racist abuse during a Europa League match against Slavia Prague. He says that the Slavia centre-back Ondrej Kedel leant into his ear, covering his mouth and said: “You are a f***ing monkey, you know you are.”
The recently crowned Scottish champions were eliminated from the Europa League after a 2-0 defeat at home to the Czech side, but Slavia’s victory was overshadowed by the incident in the 87th minute.
The 25-year-old, from Tampere in Finland, released a statement at the end of the week, saying: “If UEFA really want to ‘show racism the red card’, it’s time to stop the tokenism and take a zero tolerance approach.”
“As a player I do not expect myself, nor any other to have to tolerate racial hatred on the pitch in 2021. The vile racist abuse by Ondrej Kedel took place on the international stage and any failure to act by UEFA will be viewed as a green light for racism.”
🤝A touching moment at Parkhead as Celtic captain Scott Brown shows his support to Glen Kamara after the Rangers midfielder suffered alleged racist abuse on Thursday in the Europa League
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“I feel angry,” his manager Steven Gerrard said after the midweek game. “It’s difficult to describe how I feel now because I know Glen and I trust him 100 percent. It’s extremely disappointing. There is too much of it happening around football.
“The Slavia player has caused this and he has also caused a situation like this to escalate even further because straight away you get the fans joining in and the racism grows and grows.
“Something needs to happen quickly. That is above me. But 100 per cent, I stand beside Glen Kamara, whatever happens going forward.”
Later in the week, a clearly emotional Connor Goldson spoke about the abuse and how angry it had made him.
“I treat Glen Kamara like he’s my little brother,” Goldson said. “He’s one of the calmest individuals I’ve ever met. To see him get that irate and upset on a football pitch was disgusting to see. I back him 100 per cent.
“I’m really proud of the way the club handled it, but I don’t think I’ve ever had hatred on a football pitch like I did yesterday.
“I’ve never really been angry on a football pitch to that extent. But I genuinely despise them.”
