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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Gabriel McKay

Incoming Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel accused of 'lack of solidarity' as Pierre Webo reflects on infamous Champions League night

Incoming Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has been accused of a "lack of solidarity" in the infamous Champions League clash with Basaksehir - a charge he denies.

The German was on the touchline as Paris Saint-Germain coach when the match was halted due to an alleged racist remark from a fourth official.

Romanian official Sebastian Coltescu is alleged to have referred to Webo, a member of the Turkish club's coaching staff, as "the black guy" while telling the referee to send him off.

Basaksehir were furious, with Demba Ba questioning why the official couldn't have referred to Webo by his name, and whether he'd have said "the white guy".

The visitors refused to play on and were backed by members of the opposition, with the match completed the following evening with different officials.

Now the man at the centre of the row has spoken out about the incident and accused Tuchel of failing to show solidarity, unlike his players.

(AFP via Getty Images)

The German boss, who will be appointed by Chelsea to replace Frank Lampard, strongly denies the accusation.

Webo told France Football: "The clubs were very strong in saying no.

"We're not proud that this event happened but we're proud of having stood up to it.

"We must not take lightly the fact that Neymar, (Kylian) Mbappe and all these world-class players reacted as they did, for this cause.

"Congratulations once again to Leonardo, the president of PSG and the players who played a very big role. The coach did what he did..."

Webo was then asked to elaborate further on his comments about Tuchel.

(AFP via Getty Images)

He replied: "He was talking with Fredrik Gulbrandsen and saying everything had been engineered after Turkey.

"When Frederik told me that I thought, 'that's not normal, that can't have come from him'.

"I was really surprised, he asked the fourth official if he had really said that to me or we just didn't want to play and had been thinking that way since Turkey.

"There was a lack of solidarity on his part."

Webo is not the first to make the allegation, which Tuchel has always denied.

Istanbul Basaksehir's Turkish coach Okan Buruk talks to Sebastian Coltescu (R) after the game was suspended (AFP/Getty)

In December Ba also criticised the former PSG boss for his reaction to the alleged incident.

He said: "He had a discussion with a player or two from our team and basically blamed us for what happened.

"It's his problem, not mine. It's not something I'm going to share at the camera.

"But if I see him one day, I will talk to him about it."

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