Bristol City captain Tomas Kalas has been given the all-clear to play for the Czech Republic in their final Euro 2020 warm-up game and could well start against Albania in Prague.
Kalas was a surprise absentee for the Czechs as they were alarmingly beaten 4-0 by Italy on Friday with head coach Jaroslav Silhavy revealing after the game the 28-year-old had sustained an injury and would be assessed on Monday.
The Robins centre-back has subsequently passed that fitness test, with no serious injury detected, and is now in contention to start in defence against Albania on Tuesday night (kick-off: 19:45).
Kalas may well be required given the worrying signs from Friday's defeat with the former Chelsea defender potentially lining up alongside Sparta Prague's Ondrej Celustka who is also returning from injury.
Should the City defender impress, given the capitulation against Italy, it would put him in prime position to start the tournament. The Czech Republic have Scotland in their opening group game on Monday, June 14 at Hampden Park before taking on Croatia and England.
Silhavy has confirmed he will make four changes from the starting XI against the Azzurri with Sevilla goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik definitely playing from the start.
"There will be four changes in the starting XI against Albania if nothing will happen during the pre-match training session," the head coach said. "One of them will be that Tomas Vaclik will play from the start.
"It could be a match similar to Scotland. The teams are a bit similar in certain respects but I certainly don't want to downplay Albania in any way."
