Vincent Kompany has been highly critical of Jose Mourinho over his reaction to allegations of racial abuse against Vinicius Junior during Wednesday’s Champions League play-off tie between Benfica and Real Madrid.
Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany gave an impassioned speech at a press conference, citing his own experience of racism in football and saying Mourinho made a “huge mistake” by “attacking Vinicius’ character” afterwards.
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Vinicius accused Benfica’s Argentina international Gianluca Prestani, 20, of calling him a “monkey” after the Brazilian scored for Madrid in the second half. That claim was backed up by team-mate Kylian Mbappe, who said he heard the abuse from Prestani, who could be seen holding his jersey over his mouth as he interacted with Madrid players.
Vinicius reacted angrily to Prestiani’s comments and informed the match officials. French referee Francois Letexier halted play for 11 minutes after activating FIFA’s anti-racism protocol, but play continued with Prestiani on the pitch.
Vinicius was loudly booed and jeered by fans inside the Stadio da Luz for the rest of the game, with Real Madrid winning 1-0.
Prestani now faces an investigation by UEFA. He denied racially abusing Vinicius and claimed he heard wrongly.
Benfica player Gianluca Prestani covers his mouth while talking to Vinicius Junior (AFP/Getty)
After the game, Benfica coach Mourinho blamed Vinicius for the clash and said the Brazilian incited his players because he did not celebrate in a “respectful manner”. Mourinho also claimed Benfica cannot be considered guilty of racism because the club’s greatest player, Eusebio, is black.
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“I told him that when you score a goal like this, you just celebrate and walk back,” Mourinho said in his post-match chat with Vinicius. “Then when he argued about racism I told him about the greatest man in the history of the club [Eusebio] It’s black. This club, it’s the last thing that’s racist, so if that’s relevant in his mind, it’s Benfica.
“Something is wrong because it happens in every stadium. Something happens in every stadium where Vinicius plays. Always.”
Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany was asked for his thoughts on the incident ahead of his team’s weekend Bundesliga clash and he gave a lengthy answer in which he defended Vinicius and dismissed Mourinho’s response.
“When you look at the game itself and Vinnie’s reaction, it’s impossible to fake that reaction,” Kompany said. “You could see it was an emotional reaction. I don’t think it did any good for him to go to the referee and put all this pain on his shoulders. At that moment he realized it was the right thing to do.
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“Kylian Mbappe usually always keeps things diplomatic but he is very clear about what he sees and hears. And then there is the Benfica player who hides what he says in his shirt. In the stadium you can see people [Benfica fans] Make the monkey sign, as shown in the video.
“For me, what happened after the game was even worse. Mourinho basically attacked Vinnie’s character and introduced Vinnie’s celebrations to discredit what he was doing. It was a huge mistake in terms of leadership.
“On top of that, Mourinho mentioned Eusebio’s name. He said Benfica couldn’t be racist because the best player they ever had was Eusebio. Do you know what black players had to go through in the 60s? Did he travel with Eusebio to every away game to see what he went through?”
Jose Mourinho confronts Vincenzo Jr. after Lisbon incident (AP)
Kompany said Mourinho had a good reputation in the game and was “a good guy at heart”, but said the Benfica boss made a serious misjudgement in his reaction.
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“I have met 100 people who have worked with Jose Mourinho. I have never heard anyone say a bad word about Jose. All his players love him. I understand him as a person and I understand him fighting for the club. I know deep down that he is a good person. I don’t need to judge him by that. But I also know what I heard. I understand what he did but he made a mistake. Hopefully this won’t happen again in the future and we can move on together.”
