They have threatened legal action
Galatasaray have accused Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho of making ‘racist statements’ and have said they will ‘initiate criminal proceedings’ against him after their 0-0 draw on Monday.
During in his news conference after the Istanbul derby, Mourinho said the home bench had been ‘jumping like monkeys’ and repeated his criticism of Turkish referees, saying it would have been a ‘disaster’ to use an official from the country.
Monday’s match was refereed by Slovenian Slavko Vincic after both clubs requested a foreign official take charge of the fixture.
Galatasaray said they would submit ‘official complaints’ to football’s governing bodies as well as threatening legal action.
Mourinho – a former Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham manager – and Fenerbahce are yet to responded to the accusations.
The 62-year-old’s comments came as he was asked about the performance of 19-year-old defender Yusuf Akcicek.
He 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’.”
Galatasaray responded by issuing a statement which read: “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.”
However, Fenerbahce’s vice president Acun Ilicali denied what Mourinho said was racist saying he will stand with his coach.
He told Sky Sports News: “Jose Mourinho is very important for us – we are happy to be with him. We can clearly say [we are] behind our coach and supporting him 100%.
“It is nothing to do with racism. In this situation [Galatasaray are] trying to manipulate, it’s simply just resembling [animals]. You use animals [such as] ‘running like a rabbit’. So many things. ‘You are like a snake,’ we say. This is giving examples of animals for behaviours not a person.”
