Jose Mourinho was accused of ‘hypocrisy’ by Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards after the former Chelsea and Manchester United manager suggested Vinicius Jr provoked one of his Benfica players to allegedly racially abuse him.
The Real Madrid star had been celebrating his 50th-minute strike in the first leg of their Champions League play-off tie when he was approached by Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni, who said something to Vinicius Jr with his shirt over his mouth.
The Real Madrid star alleges that Prestianni called him a ‘monkey’, while his team-mate Aurelien Tchouameni told reporters after the final whistle the Argentine had claimed he used a Spanish homophobic slur.
Mourinho was quick to jump to his players’ after the 1-0 defeat. In an interview in Spanish, the former Tottenham boss appeared to point to Vinicius Jr’s dancing celebration at the corner flag as the cause of the alleged racism row.
‘Vinicius shouldn’t be taking on 60,000 people in a stadium,’ Mourinho said, his words translated for CBS Sports Golazo. ‘How many stadiums has this happened to him?
‘How many? In how many? He’s a player from another world, but then, you score a goal like that…’
Jose Mourinho was keen to discuss how Vinicius Jnr’s celebrations might have drawn ire from supporters and opposition
But the Real Madrid’s star’s allegation that Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni was racist towards him was far more troubling
Listening to his translated remarks, Carragher was left stunned by the Mourinho’s apparent double standards.
‘The Mourinho thing, anyone can celebrate how they like, and obviously he shouldn’t get racially abused after the game,’ he said, before referencing another interview Mourinho gave in which he evoked the legacy of Eusebio, Benfica’s greatest ever player, to suggest his club couldn’t be racist.
‘But it just feels a little bit rich coming from Mourinho, not so much the racial angle and the Eusebio angle, but this is a guy who celebrates and antagonises the opposition more than any coach has ever done.
‘In the past, you remember him running down the touchline at Old Trafford. I remember him in a cup final against Liverpool, when Chelsea scored very late, telling all Liverpool supporters to shut up.
‘Cupping his ear a lot to supporters, it’s a bit rich coming from him to be having a pop at Vinicius Jr for a celebration – it’s a huge goal in a big Champions League game. He’s more than entitled to celebrate how he likes.’
Carragher might not have had to go back as far as his time in the Premier League to find an example of the Portuguese head coach’s love of a dramatic celebration, with Mourinho erupting after Benfica won their final Champions League league phase match against Real Madrid, sweeping up a ball boy to join him.
Kate Abdo then noticed that Richards was ‘frowning’, the former Manchester City star admitted that he was ‘just disappointed with the whole thing’.
‘Mourinho is someone who I absolutely love as a coach, and he could have talked about something different,’ Richards continued. ‘He’s trying to deflect, and I expect better from him, because he’s a powerful person in the sport.
In the studio all three pundits hit back at Mourinho’s claims that celebrations were something to be policed
Vinicius had been handed a yellow card after dancing in celebration at the corner flag
The Portuguese manager said that the Brazil player should not be taking on 60,000 home fans
‘A lot of people listen to what he says, and Jamie’s right, hypocrisy from him, talking about Vini Jr when he celebrates exactly how he wants. I just feel a little bit let down.’
Mourinho also gave an interview to French television where he said that the game ‘finished’ after Vinicius scored an ‘incredible goal’ and celebrated.
After Vinicius reported the alleged racist remark to referee Francois Letexier, he enacted Uefa’s racism protocols, which paused the game for 10 minutes.
Mourinho and a member of his staff were handed red cards by the official, and play eventually resumed.
But upon hearing the manager’s verdict on when the match ‘ended’, Henry was particularly incensed – not least because the pause in play came after an alleged instance of racism rather than the goal itself.
‘I don’t care,’ Henry said when asked by Abdo if he agreed with her that Mourinho implied Vinicius had provoked the crowd with his celebration. ‘I wanted to know what his player said.
‘And that’s what he did say. He did deviate subject, for us to talk about something else. He’s very good at it. So I refuse to discuss that. I want to know what Prestianni said.
‘And the guy there, he never asked him the question. That’s what everyone wanted to know. “After celebrating” – I don’t even want to discuss it. Because we will go places… and I will stop here.
Thierry Henry was particularly enraged when he accused Mourinho of misdirecting the media
The former Chelsea and Man United manager was given a red card for his protestations during Uefa’s racism protocol
‘But I want to know what Prestianni said. Prestianni, what did you say?
‘Mourinho, as a coach, wanted to deflect discussion. As soon as we came back, what did we discuss? The celebration? Who cares. I want to know what Prestianni said. That’s when game stopped. The game didn’t stop because of the celebration. The game stopped because of what Prestianni apparently said.
‘What he did, he did what coaches do, at the end of games. He made sure we don’t talk about what he (doesn’t want) to talk about. The only time the game stopped – and the spectacle stopped – is because of what apparently Prestianni said’.
Abdo also compared Mourinho’s statement about Eusebio being a club legend to someone saying: ‘I have black friends, I can’t be racist’ .
‘What does that have to do with anything?’ Richards wondered. ‘We’ve not said Benfica are racist once. It’s got nothing to do with anything.’
His interview with Amazon Prime was as far as Mourinho went in weighing in on Prestianni’s alleged remarks.
‘I believe (Vinicius incited the players and the crowd),’ Mourinho said. ‘The words that Prestianni exchanged with Vinicius, I want to stay independent.
‘I don’t want to say I believe in Prestianni, I don’t believe in Vinicius, because they told me two completely different things. I want to be independent and I don’t comment about it’
‘I told (Vinicius) exactly that. I said “when you score a goal like that, you just celebrate and walk back” and when he was arguing about racism, I told him that the biggest person in the history of this club (Eusebio) was black.
‘The last thing this club is, is racist. So if, in his mind, it was something in relation to that, this is Benfica.’
In the aftermath of the match Vinicius’ team-mates rallied around him, with Trent Alexander-Arnold calling the incident ‘disgusting’.
‘I can’t comment too much on it because there’s probably an ongoing investigation… but I think what’s happened tonight is a disgrace to football,’ the England international said.
‘It’s overshadowed the performance, especially after such an amazing goal. Vini has been subjected to this a few times throughout his career and for it to happen tonight and ruin the night for us is a disgrace, a disgrace to football.
‘There’s no place for it in society. It’s disgusting.’