"He made a mistake" – Kompany calls out Mourinho over Vinicius Jr. incident

Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany has criticised José Mourinho over his post-match comments regarding the incident between Vinicius Jr. and Gianluca Prestianni during Tuesday’s Champions League clash between Benfica and Real Madrid.

The game was halted for 10 minutes after Vinicius Jr. and his Real Madrid teammates walked off the pitch following alleged racist abuse directed at the winger by Benfica’s Prestianni.

Earlier in the match, Vinicius had scored the opener for his side and was booked for an excessive celebration. The 20-year-old Argentinian winger has since denied the allegations, insisting that Vinicius misheard him.

It was also reported that Vinicius Jr. was targeted by racist gestures from Benfica fans during the game.

After the game, Benfica coach José Mourinho said Vinicius and Prestianni had given him different accounts of the incident but suggested that the Brazilian forward had provoked the crowd with his goal celebration. 

Mourinho also argued that, given the legendary status of striker Eusebio at Benfica, the club cannot be racist.

“I told [Vinicius], 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 in the history of this club [Eusebio] was black,” Mourinho said, adding:

“This club, the last thing that it is, is racist.”

“That was a huge mistake”

At a press conference on Friday, Kompany spoke extensively about the incident. The Belgian coach sided with Vinicius Jr., highlighting that the winger had no reason to lie about racial abuse.

Kompany also criticised Mourinho directly for implying that Vinicius had provoked the incident with his celebration.

“José Mourinho basically attacked Vinicius Jr.’s character by discrediting the type of celebration he did. That was a huge mistake in terms of leadership and something we should not accept,” Kompany said.

The Belgian coach went on to dismiss Mourinho’s argument regarding Eusebio.

“Do you know what black players had to go through in the 60s? Was he there to travel with Eusebio for every away game and see what he went through? 

“At the time, the only option [Eusebio] had was probably to be quiet, say nothing and be ten times better just to get a little bit of credit,” said Kompany.

Kompany concluded by underlining that, while Mourinho is widely respected by colleagues and players, this incident was a very regrettable misstep.

“I’ve met 100 people who worked with José Mourinho. I’ve never heard anyone say something bad about him. All his players love him. I understand the person he is, I understand he fights for his club. I know deep down he’s a good person,” Kompany said. 

“I don’t need to judge him as a person. But I also know what I’ve heard. I understand what he’s done, but he made a mistake. Hopefully it won’t happen again in the future, and we can move on together.”

UEFA has launched an investigation into the events that took place during Tuesday's game.