Pierre Vebo
The coach of Turkish Istanbul, Pierre Vebo, who caused the racist scandal during the Champions League match with the French PSG, described what happened. His words are quoted by BBC Sport.
“I was very aggressive. It's a shame if they remember me for this. Honestly, I'm ashamed. Where I was, it was very easy to say, “Third guy, take him out.” But it was also easy for the judge to say what he said, ”Vebo said. He added that the decision of the players to leave the field because of what happened will be remembered for a long time, since now they have begun to decide whether to continue the match or not.
During the match between PSG and Istanbul on December 8, reserve referee Sebastian Choltescu called Vebo a “black guy”, specifying who should be punished. After that, the players of both teams decided to leave the field in disagreement. The match was postponed to December 9 and ended with a score of 5: 1 in favor of the French team. The meeting was served by another panel of judges.
Choltescu explained his phrase to Vebo. He stated that the word negru in Romanian means “black” and not “negro” at all. The arbiter stressed that he is not a racist. However, his excuses were deemed inconclusive.
