Drogba slams former club for accusing Mourinho of racism

Didier Drogba has come to the defence of his old boss and “dad,” Jose Mourinho after the Ivorian’s former club Galatasaray accused the Portuguese of making racist statements.
 
Galatasaray made the allegations following Monday’s 0-0 draw with Mourinho’s Fenerbahce, after which Mourinho said that members of Galatasaray bench were “jumping like monkeys” following an early challenge, and also said the match was better for being refereed by Slovenian Slavko Vincic rather than Turkish officials.

In a statement, Galatasaray outlined their intention to “initiate criminal proceedings concerning the racist statements made by Jose Mourinho,” and said he had made “derogatory statements directed towards the Turkish people.”
 
But Drogba, who played for Galatasaray in 2013-14 between two different spells at Chelsea, both of them working under Mourinho, used a social media post on X on Wednesday to defend the 62-year-old, indicating Mourinho has been a father figure for him during his career.

“Dear @GalatasaraySK, You know how proud I was to wear the yellow and red jersey and my love for the most decorated club in Turkey!!’ Drogba wrote.

“We all know how passionate and heated rivalries can be, and I’ve been lucky enough to experience it.
“I’ve seen the recent comments about Jose Mourinho. 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.

“Let’s focus on our games, support our brilliant lions, and let’s win the league to get close to our 5th star.”
Galatasaray, who lead Fenerbahce by six points at the top of the Super Lig, would add a fifth star to those already on their crest if they secure a 25th league title this season.

Drogba added: “How can my ‘Dad’ be a racist… Come on guys.”
Mourinho’s current employers, meanwhile, responded to Galatasaray with their statement on Tuesday accusing their rivals of “pathetic slander.”

“I have to thank the referee. After the big dive in the first minute and their bench jumping like monkeys on top of the kid… with a Turkish referee, you would have a yellow card after one minute, and after five minutes I would have to change him.
 
“I went to the referee’s dressing room after the game, of course, the fourth official was there, a Turkish referee.

“I told him ‘Thank you for coming here, you came for a big match’ and I turned myself to the fourth official and I said ‘If you were a referee this match would be a disaster.”

“A statement made by our Technical Director Jose Mourinho after the match was completely taken out of context and an attempt was made to deliberately distort it,” read the statement.

“As every sensible person can see and understand; these statements used by Jose Mourinho to describe the excessive reaction of the opposing team’s technical staff to the referee’s decisions during the match can in no way be associated with racism.

“Trying to portray this statement as racist is a completely malicious approach. We would like to inform the public that we will use our legal rights regarding this pathetic slander that was made to take the competition off the field, change the agenda, and manipulate it.”