UEFA's investigation continues around comments made by the fourth referee in the match between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir last week.
On the side of the Turkish team, we now refuse to clearly state that Sebastian Coltescu is racist.
The assistant coach is accused of calling the referees "gypsies".
This is a new twist in the case of the PSG-Basaksehir match, with worldwide repercussions: last week, the Champions League match between the two teams had stopped at the request of the players of Istanbul, supported by those of the PSG.
The fourth referee was accused of racism because he allegedly referred to Istanbul's assistant coach by his skin color.
The match resumed the next day with another referee body and the players dropped to one knee to mark their opposition to racism.
But in Istanbul, the actors of this big controversy now qualify their remarks.
The referees insulted by "gypsies"?
Starting with Achille Webo, Istanbul's assistant coach, the man through whom the scandal happened.
The fourth referee demanded his expulsion for unacceptable behavior, calling in Romanian for the central referee to crack down by designating "the black one there".
Did Achille Webo slip up verbally before?
Asked by Turkish television TRT, the former Cameroonian international does not deny it: "It's normal, you know. When there is an action, there is a reaction. There will be a lot of things and a lot of things are say. "
"
The problem is not that you called the coach a black man, but you have to be careful when you are a referee
"
According to the Romanian press, Achille Webo would have qualified the referees as "gypsies" a few moments before the now famous "negru", understood as "negro" by the Turkish bench.
However, this insult does not exist in Romanian.
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Coltescu concedes a clumsiness
The Senegalese from Istanbul, Demba Ba, meanwhile urged the players to leave the field, but today he is much less vehement: "The problem is not to have called the coach a black man, but you have to be careful when you are a referee, ”he said.
"Is he racist? I would probably say no. Can a racist comment come out of the mouth of a non-racist man? Yes, absolutely."
Put in contact by a former teammate, Demba Ba and the Romanian referee, very affected, spoke on the phone.
Guilty awkwardness?
Yes.
Racism ?
No, Sebastian Coltescu basically told him.
Whatever happens, the UEFA investigation continues.