Bayern Munich manager, Vincent Kompany, has said Jose Mourinho made a “huge mistake” with his “unacceptable” post-match comments after the alleged racial abuse of Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr.
The Brazil striker netted the lone goal in Real Madrid’s 1-0 Champions League win against Benfica on Tuesday.
Vinicius was booked for his goal celebration and the match was stopped for 10 minutes shortly afterwards when the Brazilian reported alleged racist abuse from Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni.
Uefa has since launched a probe into the claims, which Prestianni denies.
Speaking after the match, Benfica boss Mourinho said Vinicius had been “disrespectful” with his goal celebration and pointed to the club’s legendary striker Eusebio as proof that Benfica is not a racist club.
Kompany spoke passionately and emotionally for more than 10 minutes when asked about Mourinho’s comments.
“After the game you have leader of an organisation, Jose Mourinho, who basically attacks the character of Vinicius Jr by bringing in the type of celebration to discredit what Vinicius is doing in this moment,” said Kompany, who answered in English “so I can be a bit clearer about what I’m saying”.
“For me, in terms of leadership, it’s a huge mistake and it’s something that we should not accept.”
Kompany was also critical of Mourinho for using Eusebio’s name as supposed proof that Benfica is not a racist club.
“Do you know what black players had to go through in the 1960s?” added the Belgian.
“Was he (Mourinho) there to travel with Eusebio to every away game?
“Probably at the time the only option they had was to be quiet, to say nothing, be above it and to be 10 times better in order to get a little bit of credit for people to say ‘actually, he is good’.
Mourinho has not directly addressed the criticism and spoke only to Benfica club media on Friday reflecting on the game and the aftermath.
“The game was truly demanding in every aspect,” he said. “Up until the 50th minute, it was a great game, extremely demanding, both physically and tactically.
“But then, I also have to acknowledge, that from the 51st minute until now – and this won’t end our conversation – it hasn’t been easy to manage emotionally everything that has happened and continues to happen.”
Kompany, who also spoke about racial abuse he experienced as a player, said talk of Vinicius’ celebration should not distract from the player’s immediate response to Prestianni’s alleged remarks.
“I’m just thinking when Jose Mourinho is doing the knee slide at Old Trafford, when he does his celebration in front of the [Barcelona] fans in the Champions League semi-final with Inter Milan, when his Roma are playing Sevilla and he is fighting with the referee and the referee has to leave the country under protection,” he added.
“I know 100 people who have worked with Jose Mourinho. I’ve never heard a person say anything bad about Jose.
“I understand he is fighting for his team and his club. You cannot be a bad person and have all the ex players you have had talk so positively about you.
“I don’t need to judge him as a person but I know what I’ve heard. And I understand maybe what he has done, but he has made a mistake.”
