Neymar scored a hat trick as Paris St. Germain thumped Istanbul Basaksehir 5-1 on Wednesday to confirm their status as Group G winners.
The match was rescheduled after it had been suspended on Tuesday following an alleged racism row involving the 4th official and Basaksehir’s technical crew member, Webo, that culminated in the Basaksehir players walking off the pitch and refusing to continue the match. PSG players also walked off the pitch in solidarity to their opponents.
Full time: PSG 5-1 Basaksehir
The match eventually restarted with a Basaksehir free-kick in the 14th minute (where it had stopped). Neymar ran the show for the Parisians, scoring the opener just 7 minutes after the restart. The Brazillian collected a Marco Veratti pass and nutmegged a defender before curling home a beauty beyond the goalkeeper’s reach.
His second came in the 37th minute when he finished off a nice counter-attacking move to extend PSG’s lead. Kylian Mbappe added a third goal for PSG before the end of the first half. Just five minutes of the second half had been played before Neymar completed his hat-trick, his third goal, a 20 yard effort past the goalkeeper.
Mehmet Topal scored what was only a consolation for Basaksehir before Neymar then won a penalty which Mbappe converted to round off the scoring for PSG who will now be seeded in the Round of 16 draw, holding on Monday at UEFA’s headquarters in Switzerland.
Players united against racism
A racism row involving the fourth official and Pierre Webo a member Basaksehir’s technical crew had caused the game to be postponed after both sets of players staged a walkout.
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.
— UEFA (@UEFA) December 8, 2020
Speaking after the game, Webo explained what led to the incident
“We protested a foul, there were four or five of us on the bench and the fourth official said ‘send that black guy off”, he told Onda Cero.”It’s incredible,”
Former Newcastle and Chelsea striker Demba Ba confronted the official as to why he referred to him by race.
“Why do you have to say ‘black guy’? You would never do that for a white guy,” Ba was heard saying.