” Fed up “, “A turning point”… The day after the interruption “Striking” of the Champions League match between Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG) and Istanbul Basaksehir after racist remarks by a referee towards a coach, the reactions multiply.
This match of the 6e Group H day of the European event must resume Wednesday, December 9 in the early evening (6:55 p.m. French time), where it left off the day before, at the 14e minute. But it will be without the Romanian referee body which officiated Tuesday during this meeting.
When the delegate referee Sebastian Coltescu was heard designating the assistant coach of the Turkish club Pierre Achille Webo, a former Cameroonian international, as ” black “ in Romanian (negru), he sparked the anger of the players and the management of Istanbul Basaksehir and then of PSG who, together, left the lawn after a few minutes of tense discussions. Unheard of at the highest level, in a world of football often accused of laxity and indifference on this subject.
“Incredible reach”
“A gesture of an unprecedented dimension and an incredible scope”, greet the sports daily on Wednesday The team, with headline on “Le ras-le-bol”. “The players said stop! “, described The Parisian. “We taught the racist referee a lesson”, comments on the Turkish daily Hurriyet. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had “Firmly” condemned the incident as early as Tuesday evening.
In Spain, PSG-Basaksehir eclipsed the reunion between superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on the “front page” of the daily Ace : “Stop racism”, headlines the newspaper. For the Italian sports daily The Gazzetta dello Sport, “Something new and above all very serious happened” ; Event “Rare” and “Particularly striking” who “Could be a turning point in the fight against discrimination in football”, according to the British newspaper Tea Guardian.
A view shared by former England international Rio Ferdinand, whose brother, Anton, was the subject of racist slurs in 2011: “The bodies of this sport must take a strong position. [Voir] the players leaving the field together is a step in the right direction. But we can’t leave the responsibility of doing that to the players. “
During the night, Kylian Mbappé, Neymar and other figures of PSG expressed on social networks their commitment against racism. “A strong symbolism”, declared in France the Minister for Sport, Roxana Maracineanu, while her Romanian counterpart, Ionut Stroe, presented her “Apologies in the name of Romanian sport”.
An “in-depth investigation” requested by UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has announced a “Thorough investigation”. Its disciplinary regulations provide for a suspension of at least ten games for racist or discriminatory behavior. The experienced Dutchman Danny Makkelie will be at the whistle for the remaining seventy-six minutes of a match (0-0) whose sporting interest has taken a back seat.
PSG are qualified for the knockout stages thanks to the success on Tuesday night of RB Leipzig against Manchester United (3-2). The only stake remains the first place of the group. This match will remain in people’s minds at the end of a year 2020 marked by the growing militant commitment of the sports world, especially in football, where until then UEFA wanted to keep politics away from stadiums as much as possible.
The outrage of many American sportsmen against racial injustice, within the Black Lives Matter movement, has shaken things up on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In France recently, several footballers, such as Kylian Mbappé or Antoine Griezmann, spoke out against police violence.
