FFor football superstar Neymar from Paris St. Germain, the behavior of the clubs in the racism scandal in the Champions League game against Basaksehir Istanbul was imperative. “Under extreme circumstances, such signs have to be set to see whether the world can change a little as a result,” said the Brazilian after the 5-1 (3-0) win on Wednesday.
His trainer Thomas Tuchel fully agreed with him. “It was a clear and necessary statement,” said the German PSG coach at Sky: “It stimulated a lot of discussions, which is very important. We worked through that with the team in a very natural way. I am a thousand percent against any form of racism. “
The game was interrupted on Tuesday after a racist remarks by the fourth official Sebastian Coltescu and continued the following day. “What happened was unacceptable,” said Neymar: “We live in a time in which we cannot accept that a difference is made based on skin color or race.”
Coltescu had triggered the scandal through a statement related to Istanbul’s assistant coach Pierre Webo to the main referee Ovidiu Hategan, where Coltescu called Webo a “black guy”. Both teams then left the field in protest.
“Racism has no place in football, in life, or in any other sport. Our behavior was perfect, ”said Neymar. Before the restart, the players made another mark: all 22 players knelt down in the “Black Lives Matter” gesture.
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