Football: Fenerbahçe defends José Mourinho accused by Galatasaray of making racist remarks
The Portuguese coach had been accused of racism by Galatasaray for comparing the behaviour of his bench to that of "monkeys" after a Süper Lig match. His club officially gave him its support on social networks on Tuesday.
By Andreas GuerinThe controversy is growing in Turkey. While Galatasaray openly accused José Mourinho, Fenerbahçe's coach, of making racist remarks after the draw between the two teams on Monday, the Portuguese coach's club reacted. The second-placed Süper Lig team condemned these accusations and officially gave its support to the "Special One" on X (formerly Twitter).
"As any reasonable person can see, the expression used by José Mourinho was only intended to describe the excessive reaction of the opposing team's technical staff to the referee's decisions during the match," Fenerbahçe explained in its statement. "These remarks can in no way be equated with racism. Any attempt to present this statement as a racist remark is completely malicious."
The former Real Madrid and Manchester United coach thanked the referee for his performance during the match in a press conference. Before adding that "if it had been a Turkish referee, it would have been a complete disaster", and that "the Galatasaray bench jumped like monkeys after every good decision". A rather clumsy sentence that his opponent did not hesitate to condemn, stating his intention to "initiate criminal proceedings" and to file "official complaints with UEFA and FIFA".
For its part, Fenerbahçe also says it is ready to "exercise its legal rights against this baseless accusation, which aims to move the competition off the pitch, change the agenda and manipulate public perception."
The 62-year-old coach had already been fined 18,000 euros in November 2024 after severely criticising a referee. After the match between the two teams (0-0), Galatasaray retained the lead in the Turkish championship with a six-point lead over its runner-up, Fenerbahçe.
Le Parisien
