If a referee becomes the centre of attention then something has gone badly wrong, so it’s fair to say that Sebastian Coltescu will view tonight as the defining moment of his career.
The game was abandoned halfway through the first half after allegations of racist comments from Coltescu towards Basaksehir coach Pierre Webo, and it also appears that everything he said was picked up by the pitch side mics too.
It has to be said that everything is still “alleged” at this point as we wait for the full details to be confirmed, but you can read a rough transcript and series of events here that was reported shortly after the incident.
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Some of the ref’s comments were also picked up by some of the TV cameras, but it’s not the most convincing of explanations that you’ll ever see:
Sebastian Col?escu picked up on Téléfoot Chaine footage: “Negru in Romanian means black. I am not a racist.”
— Get French Football News (@GFFN) December 8, 2020
The furious reaction from the players and benches on the field stems from the context and the tone of what was said as he allegedly referred to someone on the bench as “the black one” which has understandably not gone down well.
UEFA have been pretty quiet about things so far although they’ll likely be looking to get some official statements from those involved before deciding what to do.