Galatasaray and Fenerbahce in a spat over Jose Mourinho making allegedly racist comments

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ISTANBUL (AP) — Galatasaray plans to start criminal proceedings against Jose Mourinho and file complaints with soccer's governing body after accusing the Fenerbahce coach of making racist comments after a Turkish league game.

The league leaders issued a statement after Monday's 0-0 draw with Fenerbahce announcing the action against Mourinho, the 62-year-old Portuguese coach who moved to Turkey from Roma last year after stints at high-profile clubs including Chelsea, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.

Fenerbahce rejected the accusation on Tuesday, saying the remarks had nothing to do with racism and were “deliberately taken entirely out of context and distorted in a misleading manner.”

Mourinho was fined and suspended earlier in the season for a tirade against local match officials and the league. His comments regarding Turkish referees and the Galatasaray bench following Monday's match between the top two teams in the domestic league sparked further criticism.

In a statement, Galatasaray said Mourinho had “persistently issued derogatory statements directed towards the Turkish people.”

“Today, his discourse has escalated. 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.”

In his post-match interview, Mourinho welcomed the decision to bring in a foreign referee for the game and also praised Slavko Vincic of Slovenia for a “top performance.”

Mourinho said he'd gone to see the referee and thank him following the game. When he saw the fourth official — a Turkish referee — Mourinho said he told him: “If you are the referee ... would be a disaster.”

Asked about a challenge early in the match, he said a Turkish referee would have reacted with a yellow card “after the big dive and their bench jumping around like monkeys.”

Fenerbahce said in a post on X that it was clear Mourinho “solely intended to describe the excessive reaction of the opposing team’s technical staff to the referee’s decisions during the match. These remarks cannot, under any circumstances, be associated with racism.”

The club said it was planning to take a legal action “against this baseless accusation.”

In November, the outspoken Mourinho was banned for a game and fined following his diatribe about Turkish soccer, when he said he was fighting “the system” and suggested officials are biased against his team.

He has led Fenerbahce to a Europa League round-of-16 contest against Rangers next month.

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