Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany delivered a scathing critique of Jose Mourinho’s handling of racism allegations involving Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr, calling the Benfica coach’s comments a “huge mistake” in leadership.
TV footage showed Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni covering his mouth with his shirt — a common move by players or coaches to prevent anyone reading their lips — while making a comment that Vinicius and nearby teammates interpreted as a racial slur.
Although Benfica defended their winger, European soccer body UEFA are investigating the allegations of discriminatory behaviour during Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League playoff first-leg which Real won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Vinicius.
Photo: Reuters
Mourinho said Vinicius had incited the crowd with his goal celebrations, adding that the club was anything but racist, because the Portuguese team’s greatest player Eusebio was also black.
“Jose Mourinho basically attacks the character of Vinicius Jr by bringing in the type of celebration to discredit what Vinicius is doing. For me, in terms of leadership, it’s a huge mistake. It’s something that we should not accept,” Kompany told reporters in a 12-minute response in support of Vinicius.
“On top of it, he mentions the name of Eusebio — to say that Benfica cannot be racist because the best player in the history of Benfica is Eusebio,” Kompany said. “You know what black players had to go through in the 1960s. Was he there to travel with Eusebio [to] every away game?”
“My dad is a black person from the 1960s also who made his way. Probably at the time the only option they had is to be quiet, to say nothing, to be above it and to be 10 times better to get a little bit of credit.”
Kompany described incidents of racism during his own career, including when he was captain of the Belgian national team.
He also said he had met “a hundred people” who worked with Mourinho and did not have anything bad to say about him, but that on this occasion the Portuguese manager had made a big mistake, despite fighting to defend his club.
“So I know he’s a good person, I don’t need to judge him as a person, but I know what I’ve heard, and I understand maybe what he’s done — he’s made a mistake, and it’s something that hopefully in the future won’t happen like this again,” Kompany added.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS