Istanbul Basaksehir became the centre of attention last night after an incident during their meeting with Paris Saint-Germain where the fourth official made racist remarks towards the Basaksehir bench.
The game was abandoned with no back-up officials and will take player today (Wednesday) at 19:00 instead.
There is no doubt that UEFA need to take urgent action after this to send a strong message to the footballing world. It’s disgusting and incidents like these really tarnish the sport.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken to Twitter to put pressure on UEFA:
Temsilcimiz Başakşehir’in teknik ekibinden Pierre Webo'ya karşı sarf edilen ırkçı sözleri şiddetle kınıyor, UEFA tarafından gereken adımların atılacağına inanıyorum.
Sporda ve hayatın tüm alanlarında ırkçılığa ve ayrımcılığa kayıtsız şartsız karşıyız. #Notoracism
— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) December 8, 2020
This can’t be swept under the carpet and if found guilty, the referee should be axed from the sport with a lifetime ban. Zero tolerance to racism!
Former Manchester United star Antonio Valencia has posted a video of the pitch-side altercation, with the caption: “We are all the same before the eyes of God #NoToRacism #Respect”
Todos somos iguales antes los ojos de Dios #NoToRacism #Respect ⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/qclzbm2Ng0
— Antonio Valencia (@anto_v25) December 9, 2020
Romanian referee Sebastian Coltescu was an unknown until last night as he will forever be known as the racist referee following his comments towards the Basaksehir bench in their Champions League game against PSG.
The players were right to walk off the pitch in protest.
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