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The Champions League soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Basaksehir was interrupted when the players left the field after alleging that the fourth official, Sebastian Coltescu of Romania, used a racial slur against an assistant coach.
Turkish national team players were furious after Romanian referee Ovidiu Hategan showed assistant coach Pierre Webo a red card at Parc des Princes, saying Coltescu had used a racial term against Webo, who is from Cameroon, earlier to be expelled.
Basaksehir’s substitute Demba Ba demanded that the fourth official explain himself, while PSG players Neymar and Kylian Mbappé also demanded an explanation. Basaksehir’s coach Okan Buruk told Coltescu “you are racist”.
Twitter / Screenshot
Basaksehir striker Demba Ba faces the fourth official over an alleged racist comment that led to the suspension of the match against PSG.
The score was 0-0 when the incident took place about 15 minutes into the game in Paris on Tuesday (Wednesday New Zealand time).
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Webo was enraged and the alleged racial slur was heard repeating at least six times, while seeking an explanation from Coltescu.
Francois Mori / AP
The Paris Saint-Germain and Basaksehir players left the pitch after an alleged racial slur from the fourth official.
Moments later, Ba came out of the bench and stood in front of Coltescu and said, “Why when you mention a black man, do you have to say ‘This black man?'”
UEFA, the governing body of European football, replaced Coltescu and promised to investigate.
“After an alleged incident involving the fourth official, the match was temporarily suspended. After consulting with both teams, it was agreed that the match would be restarted with a different fourth official, ”UEFA said in a statement.
Francois Mori / AP
Basaksehir’s manager Okan Buruk, right, told Romanian fourth official Sebastian Coltescu, left, “You are racist.”
“Uefa will fully investigate the matter and further communications will be made in due course.”
However, there were no signs of either team returning to the field, more than an hour after the match was halted.
During the interruption, Basaksehir posted a message on Twitter against the backdrop of UEFA with the message “NO TO RACISM”.
Seven years ago, Hategan was in charge of a match between CSKA Moscow and Manchester City when black City players were racially abused.
Then City captain Yaya Touré directed referee Hategan towards the fans who were making monkey noises at the English club’s black players.
Michel Platini, UEFA president at the time, called for an internal investigation involving the referee to examine why guidelines for responding to incidents of discrimination during matches were not followed.
– AP, with things
