Champions League game suspended over ‘racist abuse’

Decisive Champions League game between Paris Saint-Germain, Istanbul Basaksehir suspended amid claims of racism.

Istanbul Basaksehir's players leave the pitch after the game was suspended amid allegations of racism by one of the match officials during the UEFA Champions League group H football match between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Istanbul Basaksehir FK at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. Picture: AFP.

A decisive Champions League game between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir was suspended in the first half on Tuesday as the players walked off amid allegations of racism by one of the match officials.

The row erupted after Basaksehir assistant coach Pierre Webo, the former Cameroon international, was shown a red card during a fierce row on the touchline with staff from the Turkish club appearing to accuse the Romanian fourth official of using a racist term.

Television microphones picked up a furious Webo repeatedly asking why a racist term had been used to describe him.

PSG v Basaksehir assistant referee allegedly said the "n-word" to a staff of Basaksehir pic.twitter.com/TIDp5vlyk1

— noobfcb (@noob_fcb) December 8, 2020

The game at the Parc des Princes stopped in the 14th minute, with the players walking off around 10 minutes later.

Basaksehir’s Senegal international striker Demba Ba, among the substitutes for the away side, could be heard remonstrating with the official, saying: “When you mention a white guy, you never say ‘this white guy’, you just say ‘this guy’, so why when you mention a black guy do you say ‘this black guy?’”

After the team walked off, Istanbul Basaksehir’s official Twitter account tweeted “NO TO RACISM”.

✊🏻✊🏿 NO TO RACISM | #Respect pic.twitter.com/Ic1BzfANoi

— Ä°stanbul BaÅŸakÅŸehir (@ibfk2014) December 8, 2020

The score was 0-0 when the incident took place about 15 minutes into the match.

The match, being played behind closed doors because of the coronavirus pandemic, is decisive for PSG who need a draw to clinch qualification for the last 16 from Group H, which also contains RB Leipzig and Manchester United.av-as/mw