Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has been given a four match ban and fined after comments he made following Fenerbahce’s draw with Galatasaray.
The 0-0 draw meant that Mourinho’s side are still six points behind their fierce rivals in the title race.
The former United manager was far from happy with the Galatasaray team and took a swipe at Turkish referees in general, after the match was officiated by a Slovenian, Slavko Vincic, following a request by both teams.
He 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.”
This led to Galatasaray initiating legal action against Mourinho, while Fenerbahce defended their manager.
The Athletic now report that “Jose Mourinho has been banned for four matches and fined after comments he made following his Fenerbahce side’s match against Istanbul rivals Galatasaray.”
“The Turkish Football Federation on Thursday handed Mourinho a two-game ban and a £2,548 fine for comments made towards the fourth official and a two-game ban and £32,670 fine for comments made after the match about Galatasaray team members.”
Galatasaray have also said they would submit complaints to UEFA and FIFA over Mourinho’s comments.
Former Sarı-Kırmızılılar player, Didier Drogba, who also played numerous years under Jose Mourinho at Chelsea defended his former boss earlier in the week.
He wrote on X, “I’ve seen the recent comments about Jose Mourinho. 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.”
“How can my ‘Dad’ be a racist? Come on guys.”
Featured image Ahmad Mora via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
