[ad_1]
The Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Başakşehir was interrupted Tuesday night due to a statement from Romania’s fourth official. After 23 minutes, both teams left the field at the Prinzenpark in Paris.
In the 14th minute, the referee team had sent Başakşehir assistant coach Pierre Webó to the stands for unsportsmanlike conduct. During this process, a racist insult is said to have been made, Istanbul officials loudly accused the Romanian referee of this, as could be clearly heard through the external microphones. The referee team was led by Ovidiu Hategan, the fourth official is Sebastian Coltescu.
As was also heard, the Romanian referee team is said to have tried to defend themselves by saying that the fourth official used the Romanian word for black (negru) and not the N word.
Demba Ba criticizes the referee
Webó and former Bundesliga pro Demba Ba were then heard loudly signaling that the referees had not said “the target” for a white player to identify him. It was not initially clear whether the game should be canceled or continued. Başakşehir tweeted the UEFA campaign logo “No to racism – Respect”, PSG retweeted it.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted that he believed UEFA would take the necessary measures. “We are unconditionally against racism and discrimination in sport and in all areas of life,” Erdogan said. Başakşehir Istanbul is considered Erdogan’s favorite team, the club is run by confidants of the president.
After an interruption, play was originally supposed to resume at 10 p.m., allegedly with another fourth official. In the television images it could be seen that the PSG players warmed up and were apparently ready to continue playing, but the invited players were not. Later, television footage showed that supervisors were ordering replacement benches.
As the French sports daily “L’Équipe” wrote on its website, the match will start on Wednesday at 6:55 pm. It is not yet known whether it will be repeated in its entirety or will continue from the point where it was canceled.
