Former Chelsea and Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho says he is the "opposite" of racist following the allegations made against him by Galatasaray.
Galatasaray said they would "initiate criminal proceedings" against Fenerbahce head coach Mourinho after claiming he made "racist statements" following the sides' 0-0 draw last month.
In his post-match press conference, Mourinho said that the Galatasaray bench were "jumping around like monkeys" following an early tackle. Fenerbahce later said the comments had been taken "completely taken out of context".
Mourinho also praised the decision to bring in Slovenian official Slavko Vincic to officiate the game and believes it would have been a disaster if the fixture had been officiated by a Turkish referee.
After Galatasaray said that they intend to take legal action against Mourinho, Fenerbahce responded and confirmed they have filed a lawsuit seeking damages worth 1,907,000 Turkish Lira (£41,000).
"They [Galatasaray] were not clever in the way they attacked me, because they didn't know my past," Mourinho told Sky Sports. "They didn't know my connections with Africa, with African people and African players and African charities. So instead of going against me, I think it boomeranged and went against them."
Mourinho added: "Everyone knows who I am as a person. Everybody knows my bad qualities, but that is not one of my bad qualities. Exactly the opposite!"
"The most important thing is I know who I am, and the attack accusing racism was a bad choice."
Former Ivory Coast international Didier Drogba and ex-Ghana midfielder Michael Essien, who both played under Mourinho at Chelsea, came out and defended the Portuguese.
"I thank the people who didn't have a problem to speak [out], especially my boys, my former players. They were a very important voice," Mourinho continued.