José Mourinho accused of racist statement, will face legal actions from Galatasaray

José Mourinho, Fenerbahce manager, has been accused of racist statements and will face legal actions from Galatasaray. The Portuguese manager complained about Turkish referees and said that Galatasaray players and crew were "jumping like monkeys", after a 0-0 draw against Galatasaray, the Intercontinental Derby between the top two sides of Istanbul.

"I think the only reason why today's match was good was the referee. Both teams fought well. The referee was responsible for the good match", Mourinho said, referring to Slovenian official Slavko Vinčić. In his view, Galatasaray's goal was to have the referee "show a yellow card to an 18-year-old kid in the 20th second", to defender Yusuf Akcicek. Mourinho said that Galatasaray are "very strong on this underground strategies", and "if it had been a Turkish referee, Yusuf would have been shown a yellow card".

"In the situation I mentioned, everyone on the opposing bench was jumping like monkeys. If it had been a Turkish referee, he would have immediately shown the card and I would have had to take the player off within a minute", Mourinho said. Those are the words that enraged Galatasaray.

Galatasaray will report his "unequivocally inhumane rhetoric"

Galatasaray has since published a statement, using the hashtag #SayNoToRacism: "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".

They announced they will initiate criminal proceedings concerning racist statements, and 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".