Galatasaray have accused José Mourinho of making “racist statements” and said they would initiate criminal proceedings against the Fenerbahce manager over his comments after their 0-0 Super Lig draw on Monday.
Although it was not clear which statements Galatasaray were referring to, Mourinho said the home side’s bench had been “jumping like monkeys” and that the match would have been a disaster if a Turkish referee had been in charge. Monday’s game was refereed by the Slovenian Slavko Vincic after both clubs requested a foreign official take charge.
Galatasaray said on X that Mourinho had “persistently issued derogatory statements directed towards the Turkish people” since taking up his role in the league. “Today, his discourse has escalated beyond merely immoral comments into unequivocally inhumane rhetoric,” the club said.
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“We hereby formally declare our intention to initiate criminal proceedings concerning the racist statements made by José Mourinho, and shall accordingly submit official complaints to Uefa and Fifa.”
Mourinho and Fenerbahce did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters sent outside normal business hours in Turkey.
Mourinho has previously been fined and suspended for his comments about Turkish match officials. The Portuguese was again critical of Turkish referees in a press conference after Monday’s match.
“I went to the referees’ dressing room after the game,” he said. “Of course, the fourth official was there, a Turkish referee. I told him [Vincic]: ‘Thank you to come here because you come for a big match and you are responsible for a big match.’
“And I turned myself to the fourth official and I [said]: ‘This match, if you are the referee, this match would be a disaster.’ And when I say him, I say the general tendency.”
Mourinho also praised Vincic for not giving a yellow card to the defender Yusuf Akcicek early in the match despite the animated reaction of the Galatasaray bench to a challenge.
“I have also to thank the referee because with a Turkish referee after the big dive in the first minute, 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 said.
Fenerbahce said in a statement that Mourinho’s comments had been “deliberately distorted by being completely taken out of context”. The club also said: “Attempting to portray this statement as a racist remark is an entirely malicious approach. We present to the public that we will exercise our legal rights regarding this feeble slander, which has been thrown to take the competition off the field, shift the agenda, and manipulate it.”
Earlier the club’s vice-president, Acun Ilicali, had defended Mourinho in an interview with Sky Sports News. “José Mourinho is just describing the emotion of the bench by using the word monkey – that’s all,” he said. “When I say you are running like a rabbit, I don’t say that you are a rabbit. So when I say you are jumping like a monkey, it doesn’t mean you are a monkey.
“You can clearly understand that José Mourinho had no intention to be racist, in the words or behind the words or around the words. That’s a very clear situation that is trying to be manipulated by Galatasaray’s board, and we are used to it in Turkey.
“José is very important for us, we are very happy to be with him, and as a club I can clearly say that we are behind our coach, we are supporting him 100%.”
