The match between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir at the Champions League was postponed inside the opening 15 minutes after an alleged racist incident involving one of the match officials, according to UEFA, the European football’s governing body, on Tuesday.
The players of both two sides decided to walk off the pitch to protest against an alleged racist comment from an official towards the assistant coach of Basaksehir, Pierre Webo, who is a Cameroonian.
After receiving a red card from the match referee, Webo was seen on the broadcast of French channel RMC Sport pointing at the fourth official and repeatedly asking: “Why you say negro?”.
Meanwhile, Basaksehir striker Demba Ba was heard over the BT Sport broadcast saying: “You never say ‘this White guy,’ you say ‘this guy.’ So why when mention a Black guy, you have to say ‘this Black guy?'”
A UEFA spokesperson told CNN that after an alleged incident involving the fourth official, the match was suspended temporarily and following consultation with both two teams, it was agreed that the match would replay with a different fourth official. UEFA will investigate the matter thoroughly with further communication being made in due course.
However, UEFA announced later that the match would be concluded on Wednesday with a new team of match officials.
The kick-off has been scheduled at 18:55 CET and a thorough investigation on the incident will be opened immediately.
Basaksehir posted a tweet saying shortly after the incident: “Pierre Webo, our assistant coach, has been sent off with a racist word by the fourth official referee of the match. The match has stopped for a while.”
It also posted another tweet with the message: “NO TO RACISM.” and added: “All forms of racism go against the values held by Paris Saint-Germain, the club’s Chairman, staff and players.”
Meanwhile, PSG forward Kylian Mbappe tweeted his support for his assistant coach, writing: ‘SAY NO TO RACISM. M. WEBO WE ARE WITH YOU.”
As the match restarts on Wednesday, PSG will need to win in order to guarantee top spot in Premier League Group H ahead of RB Leipzig.