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After the scenes of racism on Tuesday yesterday, the Champions League match between Paris St. Germain and Basaksehir Istanbul ended 22 hours late. The French celebrated a 5-1 (3-0) victory and are group winners ahead of RB Leipzig.
The players of both teams and the referees had set the example together before kick-off, and the European Football Association (UEFA) had already started the paperwork before the Champions League was played. The trigger for Tuesday’s racist scandal at the Prinzenparkstadion was the dismissal of Basaksehir assistant coach Pierre Webo in the 14th minute for criticizing the referee. But the 38-year-old former international from Cameroon got even stronger because the fourth official, Sebastian Coltescu, had given him racist words. The Romanian referee team defended themselves using the Romanian word for black (“negru”) and not an expletive. PSG player Demba Ba and others were heard loudly saying that the referee would not have said “white” to identify a white player.
A positive sign
The fact that the Basaksehir and PSG players left the field together on Tuesday was well received. “If officials cannot set standards with their own behavior, then they cannot be trusted to deal with racism on the court or in the stands,” emphasized Piara Powar, general director of the “FARE” anti-discrimination network. it also helped UEFA process incidents like the one in Paris.
Powar did not accept that the Romanian referees defend themselves using only their own language. According to FARE, the Romanian state anti-discrimination authority also considers it racist for a player to be approached because of his skin color. Powar: “There are not two opinions. This incident shows the need for significantly better training for officials. Unintentional racism is also racism.”
