Jose Mourinho to sue Galatasaray after being accused of racism - Iqraa news

Jose Mourinho is suing Galatasaray after they alleged he racially abused their players and staff and threatened to launch criminal proceedings against him.

Fenerbahce confirmed their manager had filed a lawsuit against their arch rivals, claiming they had “deliberately distorted” interpretation of comments he made in the wake of Monday’s goalless draw between the sides.

Mourinho said afterwards that Galatasaray’s bench had been “jumping like monkeys” while appealing an early challenge in the Istanbul derby. He also said the game had been better for being refereed by Slavko Vincic, a Slovenian, after both clubs requested a foreign appointment, adding that he told the fourth official, a Turk, that the match would have been a “disaster” with him in charge.

Fenerbahce said in a statement: “We would like to announce to the public that a lawsuit for moral damages of 1,907,000 Turkish Lira (£41,000) has been filed against Galatasaray Sports Club by Fenerbahce Sports Club lawyers due to the attack on the personal rights of Jose Mourinho.” The amount of damages being sought is symbolic and refers to 1907 – the year in which Fenerbahce were founded.

In his post-match press conference on Monday, Mourinho said “after the big dive in the first minute and their bench jumping like monkeys on 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 [substitute] him”.

The following day, Galatasaray outlined their intention to initiate criminal proceedings against Mourinho over “racist statements” and “derogatory statements directed towards Turkish people”. A day later, former Chelsea and Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba came to Mourinho’s defence and used a social media post to say his ex-manager had been a father figure for him during his career.

Then, on Thursday, Mourinho was banned for four matches and fined £35,000 by the Turkish Football Federation [TFF]  for “derogatory and offensive statements” to the fourth official. The TFF said Mourinho’s “actions and statements that insulted the brand value of football activities in Turkey” were taken into consideration, with a decision of a two-match ban from both the dressing room and touchline as well as a fine of 117,000 Turkish lira (£2,500).

Regarding his post-match press conference comments, the TFF said: “It was determined that the statements used towards the members of the opposing team, were not mandatory, were contrary to the ethics of sports and the concept of fair play, contained expressions that could encourage violence and disorder in sports, were divisive and separatist in society and could cause fan incidents, and therefore, it was deemed an act against sportsmanship.” As such, a fine of 1.5million TL (£32,655) was imposed alongside another two-match ban.

Fenerbahce are appealing against that verdict, claiming his comments had been taken out of context.

Didier Drogba defends Jose Mourinho in latest twist in Turkish odyssey

Didier Drogba has come to Jose Mourinho’s defence after the Fenerbahce manager was accused of racism by Galatasaray. Drogba, who was signed by Mourinho during his first spell at Chelsea, spent a year playing for Galatasaray but stated that his former manager has been unfairly targeted by his old club.

“Trust me when I tell you I have known Jose for 25 years and he is not a racist and history (past and recent ) is there to prove it,” said Drogba via X. “How can my “Dad” be a racist? Come on guys.”

The Ivorian striker said he was proud to have worn the yellow and red of Galatasaray, but the club should concentrate instead on their quest for a 25th league title, which would earn them a fifth star above their emblem. “We all know how passionate and heated rivalries can be, and I’ve been lucky enough to experience it... Let’s focus on our games, support our brilliant Lions and let’s win the league to get close to our 5.”

The latest chapter in Mourinho’s Fenerbahce odyssey was an ill-advised statement about the Galatasaray bench “jumping like monkeys” and criticism of Turkish referees after a 0-0 draw between the sides on Monday. Galatasaray alleged that since arriving in Istanbul Mourinho has “persistently issued derogatory statements directed towards the Turkish people”.

This was escalated with the accusation of racism. “Today, his discourse has escalated beyond merely immoral comments into unequivocally inhumane rhetoric,” the club said. “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.”

Mourinho is yet to comment but Fenerbahce called the complaint “pathetic slander” in a statement. Mourinho has previously been fined and suspended for his comments about Turkish match officials, so this is just the newest oddity of his increasingly colourful spell in Istanbul.

No football lifer escapes the sport without getting weird in the end. For some it is a slow burn. Think Roy Hodgson’s occasional anger at softly probing questions or when, as Liverpool manager, he described Northampton Town as a “formidable challenge”. In fairness Liverpool went on to lose that match, possibly because of players frightened by Hodgson’s assessment.

Others become more eccentric the longer they spend in the game. Joe Kinnear, Arsene Wenger, and most obviously Mourinho. Once so well turned out, easy on the eye and adept with a pithy quote that people with no interest in football were charmed. Now some kind of self-memeing Basil Fawlty experiment, a version of himself gone wrong like the final act of The Substance. And it had all started so well.️

Hero’s welcome

Thousands flock to Sukru Saracoglu stadium to watch Mourinho sign a two-year-contract, in the most inexplicably large audience for an outdoor event since the last Coldplay tour. Mourinho admires the inevitable flares, takes some selfies and says “I promise you from this moment, I belong to your family. This shirt is my skin,” which is objectively quite weird. Could this be a marriage made in social media content heaven?

Failed knee slide

The early signs are good, although less so for the tibiofemoral joints of a 62-year-old. Mourinho marks a stirring 3-2 win over Trabzonspor with the mandated football celebration, a knee slide across the turf. Clearly he was expecting something like the smooth and frictionless surfaces of Serie A, judging by the face-plant which followed. Despite the win, Mourinho’s post-match approach was to say something inflammatory about officials. “The man of the match was [VAR] Karaoglan. The invisible man. The referee on the field is just a child.”

beIN SPORTS Türkiye

Mixed zone death stare

After defeat by Galatasaray a journalist asks for Mourinho’s reaction to a social media post showing his face with Photoshopped tears and the title “The Crying One”. Astonishingly, Mourinho fails to see the funny side, choosing not to engage with the picture on the reporter’s phone and asking “are you serious or are you joking?” while unblinkingly staring at the man who made the unwise decision to attempt lightheartedness in the aftermath of a football match.

Laptop protest

The rules are quite clear about who can look at important incidents on a screen during a match. The manager, his army of analysts and the referee, when his friend in his ear says he is allowed. Important never to show anything too provocative to people in the stadium, nor even at home, but Mourinho does not care for such boundaries. To protest an Edin Dzeko goal being incorrectly disallowed in his eyes, Mourinho placed a screen showing the incident directly in front of a TV camera. He is booked, becoming the first manager in history to receive a yellow card for forbidden use of an item from Curry’s.

United red card

A reunion for Mourinho with his former team ends in a 1-1 draw between Fenerbahce and Manchester United. Mourinho marks the occasion by reacting with such anger to a non-awarded penalty that he is sent to the stands by French referee Clement Turpin. Afterwards, with sarcasm any GCSE student would be proud of, Mourinho says: “He told me something incredible. He told me that at the same time he could see the action in the box and my reaction on the touchline. He had one eye on the penalty situation and one eye on the bench and my behaviour. That’s why he is the best referee in the world.”

Touting himself as future Sheffield United manager

Still seething after the United game, Mourinho concedes it might be better for everyone if he manages a team which does not play in European competition and also seemingly sets his own Fenerbahce departure date. “The best thing I have to do, when I leave Fenerbahce, I go to a club that doesn’t play Uefa competitions. So if anybody from England from the bottom of the table needs a coach in two years I am ready to go.” Form an orderly queue.

Guardiola drive-by

Come to Turkey, they said. Forget all your troubles on a terrace overlooking the Bosphorus strait with some baklava and a very strong coffee. Or reignite an old feud with a former enemy who probably has not thought about you for several years. “He won six trophies and I won three, but I won fairly and cleanly,” said Mourinho about Pep Guardiola. “If I lost, I want to congratulate my opponent because he was better than me. I don’t want to win by dealing with 150 lawsuits.” OK, thanks Jose… Any new knocks ahead of the Besiktas game?