Paris (AFP)
The Champions League match between Paris SG and Basaksehir Istanbul, which has become symbolic in the fight against racism in football, resumes Wednesday evening (6:55 p.m.), more than twenty hours after its interruption following accusations against one of the referees.
At the Parc des Princes, banners were deployed to show that the atmosphere had changed in a day, after a world-wide evening where the players chose to leave the lawn and not to resume play in reaction to the words of the fourth referee, the Romanian Sebastian Coltescu.
Wishing to sanction Basaksehir's assistant coach, Pierre-Achille Webo, with a red card for protest, he had designated him to the main referee, Ovidiu Hategan, as "the black" in Romanian ("negru"), causing the anger of both teams.
"No to racism", could we read on Wednesday on a tarpaulin installed in one of the central stands, while in the Auteuil bend the ultras showed their "support for Mr. Webo" and their "pride" in front of the attitude players.
More than an hour from the resumption, a new refereeing body having replaced the Romanian quartet, led by the Dutchman Danny Makkiele, inspected the cages, as the regulations provide, giving a semblance of normality to a match bathed in an atmosphere particular.
During the warm-up, players and referees must wear a "NO TO RACISM" t-shirt, as announced by UEFA.
The two teams must then be reunited in the center circle, wearing the same T-shirt, before the "kick-off", which will in effect be a single throw-in at the place where the match was abandoned on Tuesday.
The match will pick up where it left off, in the 14th minute, 0-0.
For the remaining 76 minutes, it's time to play: PSG, guaranteed to qualify for the round of 16, will try to seek victory to lock in first place in the group.
- Webo well present -
The Turkish club is already eliminated from all European competitions.
On the sidelines, Pierre-Achille Webo will be present, another strong symbol.
In spite of himself, he was one of the protagonists of this controversy, concluded by the return to the locker room of all the players, a strong and unprecedented gesture at this level in a world of football often accused of laxity and indifference on this subject. .
The strongest image will remain that of Senegalese international Demba Ba.
Substitute, the Basaksehir player stepped up to the plate by asking, in English, the fourth referee: "You never say + this White +, you say + that one +, so when you speak of a black man, why say- you + this Black +? ".
UEFA finally announced late Tuesday, when the controversy had raged for more than two hours, the opening of a "thorough investigation".
On Wednesday, she appointed a disciplinary inspector and suspended the red card targeting Webo.
The controversial Ovidiu Hategan has been replaced at the whistle by the experienced Dutchman Danny Makkelie.
A change of referee was one of the conditions for the players to resume the match.
The disciplinary regulations provide for a suspension of at least ten matches for racist or discriminatory behavior which would also apply to a referee.
Wednesday morning, the sporting world unanimously welcomed the attitude of the Parisian and Istanbul players.
"A gesture of an unprecedented dimension and incredible scope", rejoiced the French sports daily L'Équipe, with the headline on "Le ras-le-bol".
"The players said stop!", Describes Le Parisien.
- "A turning point" -
For the Gazzetta dello Sport, "something new and above all very serious happened";
a "rare" and "particularly striking" event which "could be a turning point in the fight against discrimination in football", according to the Guardian.
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 Sports Roxana Maracineanu, while her Romanian counterpart Ionut Stroea presented her "apologies in the name of Romanian sport".
The sporting dimension has taken a back seat to a meeting which symbolizes the end of a year 2020 marked by the growing militant commitment of the sports world, especially in football, while UEFA, until then, wanted to keep away as much as possible stadium policy.
The indignation of many American sportsmen against racial injustice, within the "Black Lives Matter" movement, marked a collective awareness on the other side of the Atlantic.
In France recently, several footballers, such as Kylian Mbappé or Antoine Griezmann, spoke out against police violence.
© 2020 AFP