Fenerbahce’s head coach Jose Mourinho, left, during the Europa League playoff second leg soccer match between Anderlecht and Fenerbahce at the RSC Anderlecht stadium in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo)
Fenerbahce’s Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho has offered an impassioned defence of himself after facing racism allegations by his club’s Turkish rivals Galatasaray.
Mourinho has been accused by Galatasaray of making racist comments following the 0-0 Super Lig draw between the arch-rivals Fenerbahce and Galatasaray. Fenerbahce coach Mourinho had said that the hosts’ bench had been “jumping like monkeys”.
“They (Galatasaray) were not clever in the way they attacked me, because they didn’t know my past,” Mourinho told Sky Sports in an interview. “They didn’t know my connections with Africa, with African people and African players and African charities. So instead of going against me, I think it boomeranged and went against them.”
“Everyone knows who I am as a person. Everybody knows my bad qualities, but that is not one of my bad qualities. Exactly the opposite!” he added. “The most important thing is I know who I am, and the attack accusing racism was a bad choice.”
Players who had played under the Portuguese manager like former Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba and ex-Ghana midfielder Michael Essien came out in defence of their former boss.
Before joining Fenerbahce, Mourinho had had illustrious stints with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United.
The incident added fuel to a historically terse rivalry between the two Turkish clubs. Fenerbahce responded to the allegations against their coach by suing Galatasaray for 1,907,000 Turkish lira ($52,366.37). The club said that they were suing because of “the attack on the personal rights” of their Portuguese coach.
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The Turkish Football Federation banned Mourinho for four games and fined him 1,617,000 Turkish lira for what it said were “derogatory and offensive statements towards the Turkish referees” and accusations of chaos and disorder in Turkish football.
The ban and fine were later reduced to two matches and 558,500 Turkish lira after Fenerbahce appealed.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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