In an interesting interview with respected German magazine Kicker, Rangers Leon Balogun has blasted the actions of Slavia Prague’s Ondrej Kudela.
The Berlin-born defender slammed the deliberate intentions of Kudela which have kicked up an ongoing, acrimonious row.
This wide ranging interview covers Leon Balogun’s move to Rangers, life under Gerrard, the Premiership title success as well as that Slavia encounter.
Balogun spoke to Mario Krischel at Kicker – the full article here is recommended reading.
On the incident that sparked the controversy during the Europa League game, Balogun stated that he was in the dressing room following his red card but was still able to provide telling, informed insight on the matter:
“The guy comes running from 30 meters and chooses the player. Glen, you should know, is a totally calm and relaxed player, one who always avoids conflicts.”
“And then watch the guy cover his mouth and whisper deliberately in Glen’s ear”
“That is incomprehensible to me – That was calculating. He knew one hundred percent what he was doing.”
It was put to Balogun that Slavia have denied the allegations of racism and gave a different account of the words that were used, to which he responded:
“An apology would have been a lie anyway. If you try so consciously to cover up what you are saying, you will know exactly what you are doing.”
“In all seriousness he tried to portray the victim as a liar. That’s a lot worse.”
The more time goes on and the more we hear, the strength of the case against Kudela and Slavia grows further.
The former Mainz stopper went on to criticise UEFA for their continued lack of substantial action on combating racism.
He insists that they need to do more:
“What is missing: That UEFA or FIFA will take action.”
“I am no longer interested in these wretched campaigns. That is all well and good, but the campaign content must also be lived authentically and must not remain just empty words. ”
“There is no point in designing captain’s armbands with the label “No Racism” if racist incidents are not punished again in the end.”
“I would like these expensive campaigns to be followed by action.”
