PSG, Basaksehir players walk off pitch after ‘racial abuse by 4th official’

Players of both Paris Saint Germain (PSG) and Istanbul Basaksehir walked off the pitch in protest of the alleged use of racist language by a member of the referee team in their UEFA Champions League (UCL) match played in France on Tuesday night.

According to the BBC, officials of Basaksehir, a Turkish Super League club, made the decision after the fourth official allegedly used racist language while sending off Pierre Achille Webo, the club’s assistant manager.

The alleged racism incident that led to players and officials of both clubs walking off the pitch occurred in the 21st minute of the encounter, temporarily suspending the match.

Constantin Sebastian Coltescu, the match’s fourth official who is a Romanian, was accused of calling Pierre Webo, a former Cameroonian international, a “black guy” while sending him off.

A visibly furious Demba Ba, Basaksehir’s striker, who was on the substitute bench when the incident happened, confronted the official about his comment.

“You never say this white guy, you say this guy. So why you mention a black guy you say this black guy?” the 35-year-old Senegalese angrily asked Coltescu before he was further held back by other backroom staff on ground.

Players of Basaksehir were first to storm off the pitch almost immediately after the incident, while PSG players, led by their manager, followed in solidarity — less than a minute later.

Reacting to the incident, UEFA, the European football governing body, said it would thoroughly investigate the matter.

“Following an alleged incident involving the fourth official, the match was temporarily suspended. After consultation with both teams, it was agreed that the match would restart with a different fourth official,” it added.

“Uefa will thoroughly investigate the matter and further communication will be made in due course.”

This is the first time ever in any UEFA competition that the whole team would leave the pitch in protest against racism.

In December 2019, the under-16 team of Hertha Berlin, a Bundesliga club, walked off the pitch in the 68th minute during their youth league match against VfB Auerbach after several of their players were allegedly abused racially by their opponents.

Earlier in the year, Moussa Marega, FC Porto’s Senegalese striker, had angrily left the pitch due to a torrent of racial abuse from fans.