CL: Hat-trick hero Neymar defends walkout

Akash SinghDec 11, 2020Sports

PSG and Istanbul Basaksehir played their Champions League match to a conclusion on Wednesday, 24 hours after it had been suspended, with Neymar scoring a hat-trick before saying both teams had felt compelled to make a stand against racism in what was an unprecedented protest over an alleged comment by an official.

PSG won the game 5-1 after it restarted where it had stopped the previous day, in the 14th minute, following a touchline argument over accusations the Romanian fourth official, Sebastian Coltescu, had described Basaksehir’s Cameroonian assistant coach Pierre Webo as black, or negru in Romanian.

“Sometimes in extreme circumstances these things need to be done to see if the world can change a little,” said Neymar, who together with other players and the new team of officials gathered around the centre circle and took a knee before the restart on Wednesday in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“What happened was unacceptable. In the times we live in we cannot accept differences being made like that about colour or race,” Neymar said. “It has no place in football, or in life, or in any sport, so our attitude was perfect.”