Jose Mourinho has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Turkish club Galatasaray after being accused of making allegedly ‘racist statements’. The Portuguese boss was accused by the Super Lig leaders of making ‘racist statements’ during the goalless Istanbul derby between the two teams on Monday. Speaking in a post-match news conference after the 0-0 draw, Mourinho said the home bench had been “jumping like monkeys” from the bench to complain about decisions, as he also levelled criticism at the officials, saying it would have been a disaster to use a referee from Turkey. The match was refereed by Slovenian Slavko Vincic after both clubs asked for a foreign official to take charge of the fixture.
Galatasaray alleged that Mourinho had made ‘racist statements’ in targeting Turkish people and threatened to report him to UEFA. But Fenerbahce defended their boss, insisting that his comments had been ‘taken out of context’. On Friday, the BBC reported Mourinho had filed a lawsuit asking for compensation of £41,000, which equates to 1,907,000 in Turkish Lira – symbolically the same digits as 1907, the year the club was founded. The lawsuit claims the statement made by Galatasaray was ‘an attack on Mourinho’s personal rights’.
Mourinho has courted controversy throughout his illustrious career, having managed Chelsea in two separate stints and coached Manchester United and Tottenham. His outspoken comments often stoked criticism and outrage in England, and the same applied in Italy and Spain, where he managed Inter Milan, Roma and Real Madrid respectively.
On this occasion, the 62-year-old continued his criticism of refereeing standards in Turkey and praised the Slovenian official for not cautioning his player: “The performance of the referee was a top performance,” Mourinho said on Monday. “Anyone, not just from this country but also abroad, watched a big football match. I think the man responsible for that was the referee.
“I went to the referee’s dressing room after the game. Of course, the fourth official was there, a Turkish referee. And I told him [the referee], thank you [for coming] here. I turn myself to the fourth official and I told [him] this match, if you are the referee … would be a disaster. When I say him, I say the general tendency.”
Referencing an incident involving defender Yusuf Akcicek, Mourinho added: “Again, I have to thank the referee because with a Turkish referee after the big dive and the first minute and their bench jumping like monkeys on top of the kids. A Turkish referee would have [given Akcicek] a yellow card after one minute, and after five minutes I would have to change him.”
And that caused Galatasaray to respond with a public statement: “Since the commencement of his managerial duties in Turkiye, Fenerbahçe manager Jose Mourinho has persistently issued derogatory statements directed towards the Turkish people. Today, his discourse has escalated beyond merely immoral comments into unequivocally inhumane rhetoric.
“We hereby formally declare our intention to initiate criminal proceedings concerning the racist statements made by Jose Mourinho, and shall accordingly submit official complaints to UEFA and FIFA. Furthermore, we shall diligently observe the stance adopted by Fenerbahçe – an institution professing to uphold ‘exemplary moral values’ – in response to the reprehensible conduct exhibited by their manager.”
The incident has split opinion, with the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) siding with Galatasaray and issuing a four-game touchline ban for Mourinho, along with a £35,194 fine.
The TFF said it was penalising him for “his derogatory and offensive statements towards the Turkish referee” and because he “accused Turkish football of chaos and disorder with insulting and offensive statements towards both the Turkish football community and all Turkish referees”.
However, former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba – who played for Galatasaray between 2013 and 2014 – supported by ex-boss Mourinho and claimed he was “not a racist” in a passionate social media post.
