Paris Saint-Germain vs İstanbul Başakşehir had to be played over two nights in the Champions League.

The French champions eventually ran away 5-1 victors on Wednesday night with Neymar scoring a hat-trick and Kylian Mbappe bagging a brace, while Mehmet Topal found the net for the visitors.

However, the game had originally kicked off the previous evening, only to be halted during the early exchanges after Başakşehir coach Pierre Webó was alleged to be the victim of racist abuse.

PSG vs İstanbul Başakşehir

The fourth official was reported to have referred to Webó by his skin colour, sparking a response from staff and players with Demba Ba filmed passionately defending his colleague.

The former Chelsea striker could be heard protesting: "You never say: 'This white guy.' Why when you mention a black guy, you have to say this black guy."

In the end, PSG and Başakşehir united in their defiance by removing themselves from the pitch, eventually forcing UEFA to suspend the match and assemble a new officiating team for the replay.

Barnes defends Coltescu

European football's governing body has since announced that an investigation will be conducted on the matter, while also joining the sport as a whole in reiterating the fight against racism.

However, Liverpool legend John Barnes has sparked debate in the days since by voicing his opinion on Twitter, defending the alleged comments of Romanian fourth official Sebastian Coltescu.

Barnes, himself a victim of horrendous racist abuse throughout his life and career, opined that the official referring to Webó as 'the black one' should not be considered racism.

Barnes' Twitter comments

According to the Telegraph, Barnes wrote: “Its NOT racist to describe the offender as the black one! We are telling people to call us black … he doesn’t know his name, there are 6/7 coaches standing together all Turkish … 1 is to be sent off, the ref says which one THE BLACK ONE what else can he say to let the ref know? Why can’t you describe a black man as being a black man?”

The 57-year-old has since stood by his opinion, which largely runs contrary to the broader footballing reaction, with a series of replies to commenters on his official Twitter page.

For example, when asked whether it wouldn't have been more apt for the fourth official to have pointed at Webó as opposed to differentiating him by his skin colour, Barnes quickly rebutted.

"Point out who?" Barnes asked. "There are 5 men standing 15 ft away in the same tracksuits not in a straight line like in a prison line up.. which one is he pointing to... THE BLACK ONE.. whats wrong with telling the ref which one hes lointing to as he was CLEARLY ASKED BY THE REF."

Another tweet saw Barnes pull up portraits of the Başakşehir coaching team to try and show why the fourth official would refer to Webó by his skin colour as opposed to other differentiating factors.

You can see more of Barnes' tweets by visiting his official page here.

Regardless of this week's events and the upcoming result of the UEFA investigation, everyone here at GIVEMESPORT condemns racism in all its forms. It has no room in the sport of wider society.