Istanbul Basaksehir boss Okan Buruk has urged for all racism to end after the incident against his assistant manager Pierre Webo during the first part of their Champions League match against PSG in Paris.
Webo was sent off for his reaction to alleged racial abuse from fourth official Sebastian Coltescu during the game on Tuesday evening, with Basaksehir striker Demba Ba confronting the Romanian official before leading both teams off the pitch in the 14th minute.
UEFA reversed the decision to send Webo off, allowing the Cameroonian coach to be present as the match was restarted at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday evening, with PSG running out 5-1 winners to top their group ahead of Leipzig.
Speaking in his press conference after the match, Buruk confirmed Webo was saddened by the incident and issued a rallying cry for all hurtful words to cease.
“Webo was really, really sad,” Buruk said.
“We supported him, but it was not him who must have felt bad. The culprit is the person who said these words. He’s the one who must be feeling bad.
“We showed that we were all together with Webo. We must stop this, live together. Demba’s words were sacred too, very important.”
With the match resuming at 0-0 in the 14th minute, Basaksehir struggled to match the intensity of their French opponents, having already been eliminated from the competition.
It only took the Parisians seven minutes after the restart to take the lead, with Neymar continuing his extraordinary form to net the opener with a brilliant effort into the top-right corner.
The Brazilian maestro doubled PSG’s advantage in the minutes before half-time and when Kylian Mbappe scored his first Champions League goal for a year before the break from the spot, the Ligue 1 champions were set to cruise to victory.
Neymar and Mbappe both added to their goal tally in the second half, with Mehmet Topal securing a consolation goal for the overwhelmed Turkish side.
PSG will now progress to the Champions League knockout stages as group winners, where they will attempt to go one better than last season when they lost to Bayern Munich in the competition’s final.
Leave a Reply