The UEFA Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir resumed on Wednesday afternoon, but before being opponents, both teams shared a moment of unity. Ahead of the action, players for both sides kneeled together, many with their fist up in protest of an alleged racist act that occurred during the game on Tuesday.
It appeared that Neymar started off the kneeling, with others following one by one as the anthem played. Take a look at the scene from Wednesday's match:
PSG and İstanbul Başakşehir make a powerful statement ahead of kick-off. pic.twitter.com/Qy9297PSR5
— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) December 9, 2020
This comes after both clubs walked off the field on Tuesday in solidarity after an assistant manager was allegedly racially abused by an official. Basaksehir's Cameroonian assistant Pierre Webo was given a red card during Tuesday's match and afterwards an incident that Webo has claimed was race related took place.
They players had a long discussion and eventually came to the conclusion to both walk off the field. The game was paused and resumed on Wednesday afternoon.
"Following an incident at tonight's UEFA Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and Istanbul Basaksehir FK, UEFA has – after discussion with both clubs – decided on an exceptional basis to have the remaining minutes of the match played tomorrow with a new team of match officials. The kick-off has been set at 18:55 CET. A thorough investigation on the incident that took place will be opened immediately," UEFA said in a statement on Tuesday.
Multiple players took to social media following Tuesday incident to express their thoughts and spread a message of unity and equality.
