Gutted Sparta Prague has suffered an injury nightmare ahead of his potential trip to the powder keg to face Rangers next week with four key players having major doubts for the Europa League draw.
Rangers and Sparta are tied on points, but the hosts need to win by two to overtake them as the Czechs have a better head-to-head record after beating them at home.
Ibrox’s side were plagued with despicable treatment from midfielder Glen Kamara when he was booed in the second leg in the presence of 10,000 local schoolchildren. It came just months after the Finnish midfielder suffered racist abuse from Slavia Prague defender Ondrej Kudela last season, which saw him be suspended for ten matches from UEFA. .
But Sparta will travel to Scotland without a number of important players.
Superkid forward Adam Hlozek, who already has 12 caps for his country and was Sparta’s youngest player when he made his debut three years ago, suffered a knee injury and is considered a touchdown -and-go for next week.
Fellow Czech international Ladislav Krejci suffers from a calf injury that has plagued him all season and was excluded from the weekend to face FC Slovacko. He shouldn’t be recovering for the move to Ibrox.
And their latest worry saw winger Jakub Pesek missing the Czech Republic’s midweek World Cup qualifying victory over Estonia and could be out for a few weeks.
Sparta are already without 28-time-selected defender Ondrej Celustka, who suffered a knee injury against Lyon and is expected to be out for a month, with the 32-year-old former Sunderland defender joining the casualty list for Glasgow .
