Midfielder Tomas Soucek has defended teammate Ondrej Kudela over the UEFA ban for racially abusing Rangers star Glen Kamara.
The Czechs are under the spotlight ahead of their Euros opener against Scotland following the Kudela racism storm.
Kudela was handed a 10-match ban by European football’s governing body for abusing Kamara during Rangers clash with Slavia Prague in the Europa League.
Despite an appeal the disgraced defender will miss Euro 2020 and a return to Glasgow next week.
However, his international teammate and West Ham star Soucek has slammed the decision.
The former Slavia player insists that the player he knows would not make a racist comment.
Looking back on the vile incident, Soucek told idnes.cz : "I stood behind Ondrej the whole time.
"No one has proven anything, yet everyone condemned him and he received a long ban. It is absurd.
"I know him so well and I can't imagine him saying anything racist."
The backing of racist Kudela comes just hours after Tomas Kalas insisting the Czech national team backs football’s anti-racism campaign.
And he has told the watching world not to judge them on how they show that support ahead of their clash with Scotland and whether they take the knee.
The Bristol City defender said: “Obviously I am playing for Czech. Scottish people might look at us in a different way, but none of us support racism.
“That doesn’t say if we are going to take the knee or not. Or if we are going to say something or not. That doesn’t suddenly make us racists.
“The whole of Europe, all the footballers, stand behind the fact that racism has no place in football.
