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Football

08th Dec 2020

Istanbul Basaksehir vs PSG suspended until tomorrow after alleged racial abuse of coach by fourth official

Wayne Farry

The match was suspended before the 20th minute

Istanbul Basaksehir’s match with PSG has been suspended overnight after their coach Pierre Webo was allegedly racially abused by one of UEFA’s fourth officials.

The game is expected to be finished tomorrow, starting at 17.55 GMT.

Webo, a former Cameroon international who has been assistant coach at Basaksehir since last year, was sent off by the official before the alleged racist abuse.

Hearing what the official had said, Webo was furious, and asked him: “Why did you say n*gro, why did you say n*gro?”

Basaksehir striker Demba Ba, who was on the bench at the time of the incident, confronted the officials and could be heard on video saying: “You never say: ‘This white guy.’ Why when you mention a black guy, you have to say ‘this black guy’.”

Ba then led his teammates off the field. According to various reports, the two sides were set to resume the game, with some of PSG’s players warming up for the game’s resumption in the tunnel, before news came through that the away side would only return if the fourth official in question was not on the field.

According to Get French Football News, a number of PSG players, including Kylian Mbappe, said that they “cannot play” if the fourth official was present.

From the dressing rooms of the Parc des Princes, news of the fixture’s abandonment appeared to be confirmed with a tweet from PSG defender Prisnel Kempembe, who tweeted an image featuring the words: “No To Racism”.