Jose Mourinho appeared to pinch the nose of Galatasaray coach Okan Buruk after his Fenerbahce team were knocked out of the Turkish Cup in a fiery match on Wednesday.
In footage widely shared on social media, Mourinho appears to reach out from behind his opponent and make contact with his nose. Buruk then falls to the ground holding his face before Mourinho is escorted away.
Three players were sent off in the Istanbul derby at Fenerbahce’s stadium. Galatasary won 2-1.
Photo: AP
“He squeezed my nose from behind while I was going on. There was a slight scratch. Of course, it’s not a very nice and stylish thing,” Buruk said after the quarter-final. “I won’t exaggerate about it, but it’s not a very stylish thing.”
Galatasaray vice president Metin Ozturk was not so restrained in his response to a fresh controversy involving the outspoken Mourinho.
“The latest incident is not only an attack on Galatasaray’s coach, but also on Turkish football. This is Mourinho, I don’t know where he gets this courage,” he said.
Mourinho in February was accused by Galatasaray of making racist comments after another match involving the Istanbul rivals. Galatasaray said he had used “unequivocally inhumane rhetoric” after he referred to the opposition bench “jumping around like monkeys.”
Fenerbahce rejected the accusation and then said it had filed a lawsuit against Galatasaray for an “attack on the personal rights” of Mourinho.
Galatasaray reveled in their victory and posted a picture on social media of a smiling Buruk looking in Mourinho’s direction.
“YOU SHOULD NOT ATTACK, YOU SHOULD DIGEST!” was the message accompanying the picture along with a shushing emoji.
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen (陳凱玲) has become the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after being selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the third and final round of the league's draft yesterday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship on April 6. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament's most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He