Turkish soccer team Fenerbahce said Friday it had filed a lawsuit against rival Galatasaray for an “attack on the personal rights” of coach Jose Mourinho.
Galatasaray accused Mourinho of making racist comments after Monday's Istanbul derby, saying in a statement that he had used “unequivocally inhumane rhetoric” after he referred to the opposition bench “jumping around like monkeys.”
Fenerbahce rejected the accusation and said the comments were “deliberately taken entirely out of context and distorted in a misleading manner.” On Friday it went further and said it had initiated legal action to recoup around $52,000 in damages.
“We would like to announce to the public that a lawsuit for moral damages of 1 million 907 thousand Turkish liras has been filed against Galatasaray Sports Club by Fenerbahçe Sports Club lawyers due to the attack on the personal rights of our Technical Director Jose Mourinho,” it said in a statement.
The figure appeared to be a reference to Fenerbahce having been founded in 1907, a number that is on the club's crest.
Galatasaray said this week that Mourinho had “persistently issued derogatory statements directed towards the Turkish people” and intended to initiate criminal proceedings concerning the “racist statements” made by the Portuguese coach.
The Turkish Football Federation on Thursday handed Mourinho a four-match ban and fined him 1.6 million Turkish lira ($44,000) for comments made after about Turkish referees after the Galatasaray match.
In his post-match news conference Mourinho welcomed the decision to bring in a foreign referee - Slovenian Slavko Vincic - for the game and also praised the official for a “top performance.”
Mourinho said he’d gone to see the referee and thank him following the game. When he saw the fourth official — a Turkish referee — Mourinho said he told him: “If you are the referee ... would be a disaster.”
Mourinho moved to Turkey from Roma last year after stints at high-profile clubs including Chelsea, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
He was fined and suspended earlier in the season for a tirade against local match officials and the league.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
James Robson, The Associated Press
