Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is embroiled in a fresh controversy after being accused of “racist statements” in a post-match interview after Fenerbahce and Galatasaray played out a fractious 0-0 draw in Istanbul.
The two clubs are bitter rivals with Galatasaray holding a six-point lead over Fenerbahce at the top of the Super Lig with twelve games left to play.
However, there are few opportunities remaining where Galatasaray are likely to drop points with Fenerbahce’s trip to the RAMS Stadium on Monday a key opportunity for Mourinho’s side to reduce the deficit.
Such is the intense rivalry between the two Turkish giants, 30,000 police officers were drafted in to help keep the peace for last night’s fixture.
Mourinho, 62, became Fenerbahce boss in June last summer but has been fiercely critical of the standard of refereeing in Turkey this season, describing the situation as “toxic”.
Both Galatasaray and Fenerbahce “requested a foreign official” for the grudge match at the RAMS Stadium, suggesting Mourinho’s complaints are shared by his rivals.
And after the ill-disciplined 0-0 draw played out last night, the Portuguese coach paid special reference to Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic in his post-match interview.
Mourinho stated, “After the match, I thanked Slavko Vincic for refereeing this great match-up. If it had been a Turkish referee, it would have been a complete disaster.”
“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.”
He added: “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’.”
In response to these words, Galatasaray said they would “initiate criminal proceedings” against Mourinho for “racist statements”.
But the BBC reveals “it’s not clear” which part of the 62-year-old’s statement Galatasaray officials are referring to, though it’s extremely likely to be the “jumping” part which has enraged the Super Lig leaders. They also revealed they would submit “official complaints” to football’s governing bodies over the matter.
In response, Fenerbahce have completed repudiated the accusations against their manager and have publicly stated they will “exercise [their] own legal rights regarding this pathetic slander” by their rivals.
🗣️ Fenerbahce say Mourinho’s comments “can in no way be associated with racism. Trying to portray this discourse as racist is a completely malevolent approach.
“We will exercise our legal rights regarding this pathetic slander.” https://t.co/uw65pXiRZK
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) February 25, 2025
Tweet: “Fenerbahce say Mourinho’s comments “can in no way be associated with racism. Trying to portray this discourse as racist is a completely malevolent approach. We will exercise our legal rights regarding this pathetic slander.”
Featured image Ahmad Mora via Getty Images
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Darragh Fox
Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
