Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba weighed into the Turkish soccer spat involving Jose Mourinho, saying Wednesday his old coach “is not a racist and history is there to prove it.”
Mourinho, who coaches Fenerbahce in Turkey, was accused by Galatasaray of making racist comments after a 0-0 draw between the rivals teams that was refereed by a Slovenian official on Monday.
Mourinho was asked about a challenge early in the match and said a Turkish referee would have reacted with a yellow card “after the big dive and their (Galatasaray’s) bench jumping around like monkeys.”
Galatasaray said it planned to start criminal proceedings against Mourinho, citing “racist statements,” and file complaints with soccer’s governing bodies.
A day later, Fenerbahce rejected the accusation , saying the remarks had nothing to do with racism and were “deliberately taken entirely out of context and distorted in a misleading manner.” The club said it was planning to take a legal action “against this baseless accusation.”
In a post on social media platform X, Drogba — who played under Mourinho for Chelsea and also had a spell at Galatasaray — said he has seen the comments about his former coach.
“Trust me when I tell you I have known Jose for 25 years and he is not a racist and history (past and recent) is there to prove it,” wrote Drogba, who is Black. “Let’s focus on our games, support our brilliant lions and let’s win the league.”
Drogba added: “How can my ‘Dad’ be a racist. Come on guys.”
The Turkish soccer federation’s disciplinary board is expected to make an announcement on the incident in the coming days.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Steve Douglas, The Associated Press
