Jose Mourinho accused of making 'racist statements' by Galatasaray after saying bench jumped 'like monkeys'

Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho was accused of racism by Turkish side Galatasaray at the end of the derby played on Monday against Fenerbahce. While the awaited clash between the two Istanbul clubs ended 0-0, there was a lot of tension around the game between the leaders of the Turkish league, Galatasaray, and the current runners-up, due to what took place in recent weeks. It all went to another level on Monday, however, with Mourinho using the word "monkeys" to describe the opponent's bench.

In recent weeks, Fenerbahce and Mourinho publicly accused the referees and Galatasaray of fraud and corruption in the league on multiple occasions, and that accusation led the Turkish FA to appoint a foreign referee for the heated derby, which took place with 30,000 police officers ready to intervene on the sidelines of the RAMS Park, the home stadium of Galatasaray.

Here's what to know:

What did Mourinho say?

At the end of the game, which luckily didn't need the intervention of the police, Mourinho spoke during the post-match press conference about the behavior of the opposite bench,and also praised the difficult job of the Slovenian referee, Slavko Vincic.

"I went to the referees' dressing room after the game. Of course, the fourth official was there, a Turkish referee. I told Vincic, 'Thank you [for coming] here because you come for a big match and you are responsible for a big match'. And I turned myself to the fourth official and I said 'This match, if you are the referee, this match would be a disaster.'

"I have also to thank the referee because with a Turkish referee after the big dive in the first minute, their bench jumping like monkeys on the top of the kid, with a Turkish referee you would have a yellow card after one minute and after five minutes I would have to change him."

At the time of the comments, the bench of Galatasaray consisted of multiple players, with Carlos Cuesta the lone player who is Black.

How the two clubs reacted

Galatasaray immediately reacted and issued an official statement on their social media channels.

"Since the commencement of his managerial duties in Türkiye, 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."

On Tuesday, the day after the game, Fenerbahce replied:

"We deem it necessary to issue this statement concerning a matter that has dominated the agenda following the match between our football team and Galatasaray. A post-match remark made by our coach, Jose Mourinho, has been deliberately taken entirely out of context and distorted in a misleading manner.

"As any reasonable person can clearly recognize, the expression used by Jose Mourinho was solely intended to describe the excessive reaction of the opposing team's technical staff to the referee's decisions during the match. These remarks cannot, under any circumstances, be associated with racism. Any attempt to portray this statement as a racist remark is completely malicious. We would like to inform the public that we will exercise our legal rights against this baseless accusation, which aims to take competition off the pitch, shift the agenda, and manipulate public perception."