However, there was an unfortunate understanding that the players had left as a result of racism, as one of the Istanbul players, Pierre Webo, had become a victim of racial profiling.
This racial profiling didn’t come from a player, nor did it come from the stands. No, the fourth official, Sebastian Coltescu, had engaged in the act, referring to Webo as “the black one”.
The statement was met with a flurry of appeals from coaches, players and staff alike, with no other than Demba Ba speaking emphatically on the event:
This sparked many questions in the world of football, the top being “Why did he refer to him by his skin colour?”. The official's innate response to refer to him as “negru”, the Romanian word for black, was one which posed undeniable racist footing.
Furthermore, one must question why he didn’t seek the aid of the PSG or Istanbul bench in discovering the player’s name, or perhaps the unique number on the player’s back which allows him to be easily identified.
The players returned to the pitch the following day, with Sebastian Coltescu replaced, and went on to record a 5-1 win to PSG.
The official is set to quit football as a result of the racial incident.
"Why did he refer to him by his skin colour?"
Simple. Because it was the easiest and most obvious way of identifying the individual.
"You never say 'this white guy'"... Well, you may indeed say that if you needed to quickly identify one white individual in a group of black individuals.
Same goes for "The woman" if referring to one woman within a group of men, "The fat person" if referring to one fat person within a group of non-fat people, or "The tall one" if referring to a tall person within a group of short people.
Not everything has to be about race y'know...
Frankly I feel sorry for the official. All that fuss because he dared to refer to a black man as "black".