John Obi Mikel calls out Jose Mourinho
John Obi Mikel calls out Jose Mourinho
Former Chelsea player John Obi Mikel has called out Benfica manager Jose Mourinho over his comments on Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr. He claims that the manager should have taken a neutral stand and not blamed the Brazilian for his celebration after the racial insult incident.
Speaking on his Obi One podcast, Mikel said that Mourinho would be one of the first to acknowledge that he has messed up and backed his former Chelsea manager make things right. He added that the comments right after the game should have been about condemning racism and not attacking the victim and said (via Mirror):
"What I expected to hear from my old boss, from my gaffer [was] 'Yes it is under investigation, but there is not place for racism there, there is no place for such thing, but let’s wait until it is concluded, there is no place for that'. So for him to come out and say 'Oh yeah, Vinicius Jr shouldn’t have celebrated the way he did', that was a clumsy, clumsy comment from Jose Mourinho. He will be the first, he knows, he will be the first to know 'I’ve f***ed up here'. He is a smart, smart guy, a very smart guy, he knows."
Mikel wants Mourinho to issue an apology swiftly, as it has been almost a week since his comments on the Real Madrid star. He believes it was a mistake from the manager and said:
"I don’t know the reason why he hasn’t apologised, but I expect him to come out at some point and make a statement. There is nobody who has played with Jose Mourinho that has a bad word to say about him, especially when it comes to racism, especially, zero, absolutely zero."
"He will be the first to say 'I f***ed up, it was after the game, emotions were running high, I didn’t think about my statement, I didn’t think about what I was going to say.' He is an experienced manager, he is a smart guy, he knows what he should have said. The statement that he made is a massive, massive, huge mistake."
UEFA have suspended Gianluca Prestianni for a match as they investigate the racial insult incident. The Benfica star is set to miss the second leg of the UEFA Champions League playoff at Santiago Bernabeu.
Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho refuses to speak
Jose Mourinho has refused to speak to the media ahead of Benfica's game at Real Madrid. The former Chelsea manager was sent off during the first leg after picking up two yellow cards last week.
The red card gave Mourinho the right to skip pre-match and post-match press conferences, and he has opted to use it. He has been slammed by managers, players, pundits, and fans on social media for his comments about Vinicius Jr last week.
The former Chelsea boss will not be on the touchline this week, but is expected to be in the stands.