“Jose Mourinho has persistently issued derogatory statements directed towards the Turkish people.”
Galatasaray have accused Fenerbache boss Jose Mourinho of making ‘racist statements’ and have threatened to take legal action, following their 0-0 draw on Monday.
Mourinho – whose former clubs include Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Man United and Spurs – and his side were away to their Istanbul rivals, who sit one place above them in first in the Turkish Super Lig.
A statement from Galatasaray did not explicitly say which comments from the Portuguese manager they were referring to, but they were likely spurred on by Mourinho’s post-match comments, where he criticised Turkish referees, and likened Galatasaray’s bench to monkeys after an incident involving Fenerbache defender Yusef Akcicek.
Mourinho – who has been at the club since last summer – said:
“I have to thank the referee. After the big dive in the first minute and 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.”
“I went to the referee’s dressing room after the game, of course the fourth official was there, a Turkish referee. I told him ‘thank you for coming here, you come for a big match’ and I turned myself to the fourth official and I said ‘if you were a referee this match would be a disaster’.”
Slovenian Slavko Vincic took charge of the game after both teams requested a non-Turkish referee.
In a statement, Galatasaray said: “Since the commencement of his managerial duties in Turkey, Fenerbahce 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 Fenerbahce – an institution professing to uphold ‘exemplary moral values’ – in response to the reprehensible conduct exhibited by their manager.”
