[ad_1]
PARIS: Istanbul Basaksehir players, closely followed by their opponent Paris St Germain, left the field during a Champions League soccer match on Tuesday (December 8) after the Turkish club accused a referee of racism .
Basaksehir’s Cameroonian assistant coach, Pierre Webo, received a red card for protesting a refereeing decision and the Turkish team left the field after around 10 minutes of discussions with Romanian referee Ovidiu Hategan.
PSG also left the field at the Parc des Princes.
“Our players have made the decision NOT to return to the court after our assistant coach Pierre Webo was exposed to racist behavior by the fourth official,” Istanbul Basaksehir said on Twitter.
The match, which was suspended in the 13th minute, was not resumed and European football’s governing body UEFA said the remainder of the match had been rescheduled for Wednesday at 17.55 GMT.
“Following an alleged incident involving the fourth official, the match was temporarily suspended,” UEFA said in a statement.
Television images showed the fourth official Sebastian Coltescu saying in Romanian: ‘The black man over there. Go and see who it is. The black over there, it is not possible to act like that ‘after Webo vehemently protested against an arbitration decision.
“Why do you say black?” Basaksehir’s substitute Demba Ba asked the match referee Hategan repeatedly as confusion reigned on the touchline in the Group H match.
Television footage also showed PSG’s French defender Presnel Kimpembe saying ‘Are you serious? We are heading inwards. We are heading inwards. That’s it, we’re heading inward. “
Confirming that the match will resume on Wednesday, UEFA added that it will “conduct a thorough investigation.
“Racism and discrimination in all its forms have no place in football,” the governing body said in a statement.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter that he believed UEFA would take the necessary measures.
“We are unconditionally against racism and discrimination in sport and in all areas of life,” he wrote.
Basaksehir posted on Twitter the UEFA poster “No to racism”, a post that PSG retweeted on its own official account.
PSG qualified for the round of 16 of Europe’s premier club competition, despite their match being suspended and later rescheduled, after Manchester United lost 3-2 in Leipzig.
