Jose Mourinho is suing Galatasaray claiming damages after the club accused the Fenerbahce boss of making racist statements.
Fenerbahce on Friday announced that Mourinho has launched the action through the club’s lawyers as the angry recriminations continue from Monday’s 0-0 Turkish Super Lig draw between the two clubs.
Mourinho is seeking 1,907,000 Turkish Lira, a symbolic amount which references 1907 as the year Fenerbahce were founded, worth around £41,500.
“Through the lawyers of Fenerbahce Sports Club, we announce to the public that Galatasaray Sports Club has been sued by Jose Mourinho for 1 million 907 thousand Turkish Lira for non-pecuniary damages due to the attack on the personal rights of our technical director Jose Mourinho,” a statement said.
Galatasaray had said that Mourinho’s post-match comments – in which he said the Galatasaray bench were “jumping like monkeys” and that Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic did a better job than Turkish officials could have done – amounted to “racist statements”.
Mourinho has received a four-match ban and a fine equivalent to £35,000 for his comments, although the club have said he has appealed against that.
Former Chelsea and Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba was among the players to come to the defence of Mourinho following Galatasaray’s complaint, calling the Portuguese his “dad”.
Fenerbahce issued their own statement on Tuesday, saying Mourinho’s comments after the match were “taken completely out of context and deliberately distorted”, and could “in no way be associated with racism”.
