If there'd been five black coaches and one white coach he would have pointed out 'the white 'one'

It is believed Coltescu said "negru", the Romanian word for black.

This led to a debate offline and online as people argued over whether the Romanian official was racist or not in the way he referred to Webo.

On Wednesday, Dec 9, former Liverpool star turned football pundit John Barnes - a Black man - waded into social media to react to the matter.

Barnes went on to outline his belief that the official would have acted the same way had the coach he was trying to point out been the only white one there.

Barnes added: "[Demba] Ba said if he was white u wouldnt say white guy... but if there were 5 black coaches and 1 white coach .. he would have said 'the white one'... what else could or should he say?"

Reacting to concerns that the word "negru" used is degrading, Barnes said he saw no issue with the language used if it was the correct wording when spoken in Romanian.

Barnes said: "And even if he said negro... if thats the romanian word for black... whats wrong with that?"