PSG-Basaksehir Champions League match suspended after referee uses racist slur

The PSG-Basaksehir Champions League match was paused after some racist language directed at an Istanbul coach.

Kylian Mbappe and French giants Paris Saint-Germain were supposed to face off in a garden variety Champions League group stage match against Turkish up-and-comers Istanbul Basaksehir today. However, a shocking racist incident has forced the game to be suspended after the teams walked off of the pitch.

Basaksehir assistant manager Pierre Webo accused the fourth official from this Romanian crew of using racially-charged language. After Webo was carded, likely due to his reaction, both teams left the pitch in protest. The match will restart at 10:00 p.m. French Time.

PSG and Basaksehir are both taking a stand against racism in the Champions League

With PSG needed a result in this game to edge out Manchester United and make it to the Round of 16, this game is important for both the Parisians and the motivated squad from Istanbul looking to play spoiler. However, this blatant racism forced both teams to put worrying about a result in the rear-view mirror.

While this has not been confirmed, Twitter detectives are postulating that the official pointed at Webo and said “ala negru” which translates roughly to “the black one” in Romanian.

Basaksehir striker Demba Ba, known for his days with Chelsea in the Premier League, claimed that the official would never call one of the coaches “the white guy” in the ensuing verbal altercation.

European soccer can shut their eyes and pretend that this is going away, but racism is still a tremendous problem in this sport, with fans, referees, and players alike often succumbing to using such revolting language. Both sides deserve to be applauded for their actions in the aftermath of this incident, as walking off the pitch in protest will help show that actions like that of the fourth official will not be tolerated.