PSG And Istanbul Basaksehir Walked Off After An Official Allegedly Called An Istanbul Coach A Racist Slur

Group H of the Champions League featured a pair of matches on Tuesday, a highly-anticipated tilt between Red Bull Leipzig and Manchester United, and a match between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basakeshir that seemed like a formality for the French side. But due to an incident in the second match, it became the center of the football world, as players from both teams walked off the pitch due to a racist incident between the fourth official and a member of Istanbul’s staff.

According to reports out of France, the official used a racist term while addressing Istanbul assistant Pierre Webo, who is Black, and addressed the official upon getting a red card. It also led to a confrontation between the official and Istanbul striker Demba Ba, who is also Black and questioned the verbiage used by the official.

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Istanbul players were unhappy with the incident, which led to them walking off the pitch. In a show of solidarity, players for PSG — whose star player, Neymar, has alleged being on the receiving end of these sorts of racist remarks in the past — did the same.

Istanbul tweeted out a statement in staunch opposition to racism in football.

The match, per reports, is slated to resume at 4 p.m. EST, with the fourth official being moved off of the pitch.