At the origin of the collective decision of the two teams to leave the field on Tuesday evening, Demba Ba returned to this historic evening.
For the first time in Champions League, the 22 players collectively made the decision to leave the field to say no to racism. We play the 13th minute of play Tuesday night at the Parc des Princes when Bassaksehir’s assistant Achille Webo is excluded, accusing the fourth referee of having called him “negro”. After long minutes of discussions, the players will all leave the eplouse in protest.
“There was a foul and the referee decided not to give the PSG player a card. That’s what heated up our bench a bit. The fourth referee said something that we can’t really hear , apart from the coach who is right next to him. It’s a word that has a very strong emotional impact “, says Demba Ba in an interview with Bein Sports.
“The coach ‘roars’ right away and Achilles (Webo) starts to lose his temper when he hears the coach. I decided to get up and go ask the referee. Not to say something but to question and know why there are differences between the ones and the others “, continues the former striker of Chelsea.
“It’s not the word itself that shocks me. The word itself doesn’t shock me. This is the moment in which the word was put out.”
“We are fighting this ordinary racism that is in people’s heads”
“When I go to question him, I ask him: ‘Mister the referee, why do you say that he is black when you could have said that he was the assistant coach or that he was in such a rank? “, he then asks.
“You reduce him to his skin color. Today there are several forms of racism. This racism is a bit trivialized. We fight these words, this ordinary racism that is in people’s heads. I will do what we do again. did if I found myself in the same situation. “
The decision to leave the pitch, forcing the game to be postponed until the next day, was particularly strong. “We stopped playing so we could get things done and to answer my question: why can we call black by its skin color when we don’t call white by its skin color? must answer this question. I did not get an answer. “
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