Jose Mourinho hasn’t changed.
Any hopes of the Portuguese coach turning over a new leaf at Real Madrid were comprehensively ended by his latest interview.
Mourinho was presented as Madrid’s new coach unusually behind closed doors, and it turns out that was a wise choice judging by what came next.
His presentation was rather amusingly followed up by an exclusive with comedy sports show El Chiringuito, showing just how bad Florentino Perez’s war on the media has gotten.
And to make matters worse, Mourinho discussed the Vinicius Jr – Gianluca Prestianni incident in appalling terms once again.
What happened between Mourinho and Vinicius?
In February when Mourinho’s Benfica took on Madrid in the Champions League, the referee enacted anti-racism protocol when Vinicius ran to him after an exchange where Prestianni covered his mouth with his shirt.
Kylian Mbappe later alleged in the mixed zone that he heard the word ‘monkey’ five times.
The incident came after Vinicius celebrated a wonder goal in front of the Benfica fans by dancing at the corner flag, to which many responded with moneky impressions.
Later, Mourinho appeared to justify some of the responses by saying Vinicius provoked the response.
Breaking his silence while speaking to El Chiringuito he remarkably seemed to double down.
Mourinho talks Vinicius vs Prestianni
“I also wanted to talk about that,” he said.
“For me, it’s one thing to celebrate a goal with your own fans. It’s another thing to celebrate in front of the opposing fans. You can find a balance.”
Mourinho then doubled down on his decision to back Prestianni during the affair.
He added: “If Prestianni was my player, even if 20 players came, I’d still be with him, no question.
“Vini now knows which side I’m on. And he knows he can look to me and count on me to be by his side.”
At the time of the incident, Mourinho was told he would never coach Madrid again due to his actions.
AS editor and Real fan Tomas Roncero said: “He dedicates himself to doing something I don’t forgive him for: justifying the racist insult by explaining that Vinicius provoked it with his goal celebration.
“For me, there was little chance of Mourinho returning to Madrid. Now there’s zero chance of Mourinho returning to Real Madrid.
“He closed the doors because he attacked the heart of Real Madrid. You can’t see someone who suffered a racist insult while wearing the white jersey, the sacred white jersey, and justify it by saying that he provoked it.
“I hope that one day Mourinho will have the integrity to tell him to his face, apologising to Vinicius . But that he does it publicly as well. That he apologises to Vinicius for his pettiness. It’s unacceptable.
He continued: “Mourinho is a man of self-interest. If he speaks in one place, he tells you one thing; if he speaks in another, he says something else. Therefore, he doesn’t have that much personality.
“Now, he’s sucking up to the Benfica people, because they’re the ones who pay him. But then he shouldn’t come saying he loves Real Madrid. He should have shown it on the day we needed it.
“But are you going to criticise Vinicius for celebrating a goal by dancing? A great goal? You offended all of Real Madrid by trying to justify a repugnant racist insult. That’s called cowardice.”
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