Rangers forward Kemar Roofe admits the last few weeks have been ‘crazy’ as his side went from winning the league, to crashing out of Europe and having to stand resolute in the face of alleged racist abuse directed at one of his team-mates.
The Ibrox outfit were sent out of Europe that night but the game will be remembered for the ugly scenes on the pitch towards the end of the 90 minutes, with Steven Gerrard’s men defending Glen Kamara after the Finland internationalist was allegedly subjected to racist abuse.
With the last few weeks being a roller-coaster for Rangers, Roofe admitted the mentality needed in these situations can be “a challenge”.
Speaking to the Super 6 podcast, he commented: "The last few weeks have been crazy.
"We have gone from winning the league with a party type of excitement, to three days later having to focus for a massive Europa League game.
"The ability to switch mindsets from having fun to being focused again and start winning things was a challenge, but we managed to get a decent result, 1-1 at their place."
The match made headlines for all the wrong reasons after Slavia defender Ondrej Kudela was seen cupping his mouth and saying something discreetly to Kamara - prompting a furious reaction from the home players.
UEFA have since opened an investigation into the allegations and Roofe admitted that the ugly scenes towards the end of the tie could have "stemmed" from his dangerous challenge on Ondrej Kolar.
"It went from disappointment from losing to anger with the different things that were happening in the game, which were not acceptable” Roofe said.
"I think a lot of it stemmed from my tackle. It looks bad, it is bad for the goalkeeper. It hurt him a lot.”
His tackle on Kolar in the second half of the Europa League clash saw him shown a straight red card for his high boot that collided with the keeper's face.
But the former Leeds and Anderlecht man insists that the nasty-looking tackle that left the goalkeeper requiring stitches was purely accidental.
"It was not on purpose at all," he said. "I received a ball over the top from Connor Goldson and with the speed we play at, you can't move out the way or prevent things from happening.
"It was literally a bad accident.
"People that know me, they know I'm not that type of player or person. I never go on the pitch to fight or hurt somebody.
"All I want to do is play well and help the team win games. That's what I was trying to do.
"I was on the bench and especially as a striker you want to make a difference. As soon as I saw the ball I thought it was a good chance for me to get in.
"I looked across the line and saw I was onside, unmarked. Then my eyes went back onto the ball. It bounced extremely high, a bit too high for my head but I tried to get there with my foot.
"I managed to get there first and get a touch on the ball and my follow through collided with the keeper because he was running straight at me."
Roofe is adamant there was no malice in the tackle, saying it was an accident and he felt bad as he took his long walk down the tunnel.
"At the time I didn't realise my foot landed on his face," he added. "We both landed on the floor and he landed on his face.
"It was only when he rolled over I saw the blood. Your first impression is you feel bad.
"You're walking off the pitch feeling bad because you've hurt a fellow professional footballer but you don't mean to do it.
"It was an accident. I got to the ball first and the keeper collided with me, there's nothing I could have done about it."
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