Topics: Vincent Kompany, Jose Mourinho, Vinicius Jr, Real Madrid, Benfica
Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany has reacted to Jose Mourinho's comments on Vinicius Jr following alleged racial abuse directed at the Real Madrid star.
On Tuesday night, Benfica hosted Madrid at the Estadio da Luz in the UEFA Champions League play-off first leg.
Vinicius Jr scored to make it 1-0 in the 50th minute, and following the celebration, the Brazilian was seen speaking to referee Francois Letexier to report that he had been subject to racist abuse, allegedly from Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni.
Prestianni, 20, has since issued a statement and denied making a racist comment towards Vinicius Jr.
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As per Sky Sports, UEFA recently 'appointed an ethics and disciplinary inspector to investigate the incident', a process that could take up to three weeks.
Speaking on Tuesday night, Mourinho appeared to suggest that Vinicius Jr had created the tension due to his goal celebration and spoke about Benfica legend Eusebio when quizzed on potential racism.
He said: "I told him when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back. When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person [Eusebio] in the history of this club was black.
"This club, the last thing that it is, is racist. If in his mind there was something in relation to that – this in Benfica. They [Vinicius and Gianluca Prestianni] told me different things. But I don't believe in one or another. I want to be an independent."
Now, former Manchester City captain and current Bayern boss Kompany has slammed Mourinho's comments and his decision to bring Eusebio's name into the situation.
He said: "You have the leader of an organisation, Jose Mourinho, who attacks the character of Vinicius Jr by bringing in the type of celebration to discredit what Vinicius is doing in this moment.
"On top of it he mentions the name of Eusebio, to say that Benfica cannot be racist because the best player in the history of Benfica is Eusebio.
"Do you know what black players had to go through in the 60s? Was he there to travel with Eusébio every away game and see what he went through, every place in Europe?"
Kompany continued: "Because my dad is a black person from the 1960s also who made his way, probably at the time the only option they had was to be quiet. To say nothing and to be above it and to be 10 times better to get a little bit of credit and for people to say ‘actually he’s good.’
"That was Eusebio’s life, probably. Today, to use his name to make a point about Vini Jr who’s actually, finally in a situation where he can say something about it … there are a lot of players in different leagues in Europe who don’t have a voice. There are players in Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia if something happens to them and they are black players they have zero chance to have any kind of support.
"Vini Jr is at least in a situation where a lot of players have made it possible for him to take this moment and to protest in this moment."
