‘I’m Not Ignorant’—Jose Mourinho Takes New Stance on Vinicius Jr Racism Row

Mourinho was widely pilloried for his comments in the immediate aftermath of Benfica’s Champions League tie against Real Madrid.

José Mourinho has been heavily criticized for his immediate reaction to Vinicius Junior’s racism allegations. | Rodrigo Moreira/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Benfica manager José Mourinho rowed back on his previous criticism of Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior, insisting that he is not “ignorant” and promising to chase Gianluca Prestianni out of the club if he is proven guilty of racial abuse. Yet, that “if” was a crucial factor.

Not many covered themselves in glory during the bleak Champions League clash between Benfica and Real Madrid in Lisbon last month. Prestianni was accused of calling Vinicius Jr a “monkey”—an allegation he denies with the hardly watertight defense that he instead used a homophobic slur—while home fans in the Estádio da Luz were filmed delivering their own abuse to Madrid’s goalscorer.

Mourinho also came under fire for his immediate reaction. The two-time Champions League winning manager is billed as a master of communication but emphatically stuffed his foot in his mouth with a muddled assessment of events.

The Portuguese boss claimed that Vinicius Jr had incited the attention with his celebration—a tame wiggle of the hips by the corner flag—and dismissed the possibility that anyone at Benfica could be racist because the club’s greatest ever player, Eusébio, was Black. Anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out accused Mourinho of “gaslighting” Vinicius Jr and Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany delivered a poignant plea for the boss to apologize.

There has been a deafening silence on the situation from Mourinho over the subsequent weeks. He refused to address the topic during his domestic media duties between the two legs and took the option of skipping the Champions League press conferences as he was suspended for the fixture at the Bernabéu having been sent off the week before.

With the benefit of almost two weeks to ponder over all the evidence, Mourinho had a far more measured take.

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Mourinho Underlines the One Good Point He Made

The damage has already been done for José Mourinho. | IMAGO/Brazil Photo Press

Mourinho hijacked his own press conference over the weekend to steer the topic of conversation back to the racism row still engulfing Benfica. “I want to state upfront that I condemn any type of discrimination, prejudice and ignorance,” he declared.

“I also advise everyone to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and understand that criticism reflects more on the person making it than on the person being criticized.”

The self-styled Special One also took it as an opportunity to rewrite history. Mourinho’s memory of his postmatch press conference immediately after the incident helpfully ignored all his controversial bluster and instead focused on the single line of sanity he uttered: the idea that he would not take sides.

“I mentioned this at the press conference in Madrid when I was confronted with the statements of Álvaro [Arbeloa, Real Madrid manager] and a player in the accusation against Prestianni and the defense of the Real Madrid player,” Mourinho insisted. “And where I said, ‘I want to be balanced, neither defending my side nor attacking the other.’ I even previously used the terminology, ‘I don’t want to wear either the red shirt, Benfica, or the white shirt, Real Madrid.’

“I want to be impartial in a case that could be very serious.”

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‘Article 4206328’—Mourinho’s Swipe at UEFA

José Mourinho has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons recently. | Octavio Passos-UEFA/Getty Images

It would not be a media event with Mourinho without a thinly veiled jab. Rather than the blameless Vinicius Jr, Benfica’s manager took issue on this occasion with UEFA.

The governing body of European soccer took the unexpected approach of giving Prestianni a one-match ban after delivering a provisional ruling. The case is still ongoing and Mourinho argued that his player has not been afforded the right of being presumed innocent.

“What I said—so you can take 10 minutes to read the statement—refers to the presumption of innocence,” he sniffed. “If, as a citizen, I am a person who condemns any kind of prejudice or idiocy, I say I did this and others didn’t. If, I repeat many times, my player did not respect these principles, which are mine and Benfica’s, his career with a coach named Mourinho and at a club like Benfica comes to an end.

“I’m not a scholar, but I’m not ignorant either, and the presumption of innocence is a right. If you want me to repeat what I condemn 20 times, I will. I continue with the ‘if,’ unfortunately UEFA, to remove the player from the game, found article 4206328 as a reason for suspending him, and they also didn’t include the ‘if’ that should have been included.

“If the player is indeed guilty, I will never look at him the way I have looked at him, and that’s the end of it for me, but I have to put many ‘ifs’ in front of it.”

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