Jose Mourinho’s tenure at any club is guaranteed to be colourful, but his eight-month reign as Fenerbahce manager is turning caustic.

The 62-year-old Portuguese has repeatedly revisited his favourite subject of refereeing – an issue Turkish football has struggled with of late – which led to him being accused of racism on Monday night.

BBC Sport breaks down the latest chapter in Jose v Turkish football.

What happened?

Monday’s Istanbul derby between the country’s two biggest clubs Galatasaray and Fenerbahce ended in a not-so-thrilling 0-0 draw – the fireworks coming afterwards in Mourinho’s media conference when he accused the Galatasaray bench of “jumping like monkeys”.

Galatasaray responded by accusing Mourinho of racism – something Fenerbahce deny, with the club’s vice-president insisting Mourinho’s comments were “100% nothing to do with racism. In this situation [Galatasaray are] trying to manipulate simply just resembling [animals]”.

So far, so messy.

Experienced Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic had been drafted in to take charge of the domestic match – the first in nearly 50 years by a foreign official – following a request from both clubs., external

Mourinho thanked Vincic in his post-match media conference for not booking a Fenerbahce player early in the game – believing many refereeing decisions are heavily influenced by Galatasaray.

He then aimed a dig at the Turkish fourth official, in which he is reported to have said: “If you were a referee this match would be a disaster.”

All of which follows months of complaints by Mourinho about officiating in the Turkish Super Lig, including saying he would not have taken the Fenerbahce job if he had known the standards of officiating.

Turkish football’s chaotic past

“The Galatasaray and Fenerbahce derby is the biggest sport event in Turkey,” says Burak Abatay from BBC Turkish.

“Life stops on derby evenings – even the terrible Istanbul traffic is relieved. It is very big tension. The match [last night] was played in this tension.

“There has been a great chaos in Turkish football for a long time. The main discussion is usually about the referees.

“Last season a referee was attacked by a club president in the centre of the pitch. And two teams withdrew from the pitch last season. Another club did the same this season.

“In the middle of this season, foreign referees started to work as VAR referees in all matches, but this did not reduce the controversy.

“President of the Turkish Football Federation Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu stated that the reason for a foreign referee to officiate the derby was ‘to prevent these discussions and not to put the referees in a controversial position’.”

Abatay added: “Galatasaray’s manager Okan Buruk called Jose Mourinho ‘The Crying One’ after the match. He also criticised [referee] Vincic.

“Many football analysts say that Turkish football needs more structural and long-term change.”

And Mourinho’s own club claim change is required, with Fenerbahce vice-president Acun Ilicali claiming there is no protocol for selecting referees in Turkey, “unlike England”.

“In England, if somebody [is] from Newcastle, you cannot be a ref of a Newcastle game,” he told Sky. “[The] problem in Turkey is nobody’s asking referees ‘Which team do you support?’ We don’t know – they can be a Galatasaray fan or Fenerbahce fan.”

Uefa told BBC Sport it “works with its 55 member associations on refereeing”, but the responsibility lies with individual associations to manage the process for its own officials.

In England, professional referees have to declare which teams they support as part of transparency measures – so they avoid games involving their own team.

Is this just more Mourinho antics?

Mourinho is famed for winning some of football’s biggest prizes, all while performing some of the game’s biggest wind-ups.

And while his method of getting under competitors’ skins by criticising referees, managers, players and football authorities has yielded results, it has also formed a questionable reputation in the game’s dark arts.

“Fenerbahce must have known what they were getting into when they hired Jose Mourinho. He is no stranger to headlines,” says BBC Sport chief football news reporter Simon Stone.

“As recently as October, he stated a desire to return to England – and join a club that didn’t compete in Uefa competition as he believed his red card against former club Manchester United was confirmation of an agenda against him.

“The following month he was banned for a game and fined £15,000 by the Turkish FA for an attack on the impartiality of Super Lig officials.

“He maintains to this day his Roma side were badly treated in their Europa League final defeat by Sevilla in 2023, a game when 13 players were booked. Mourinho waited for referee Anthony Taylor in the car park as he was leaving the stadium and expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the Premier League official had handled the game.

“Taylor and his family were subsequently attacked by Roma fans at Budapest airport. Uefa gave Mourinho a four-match ban.”

Culled from the BBC

Liverpool finished first in the 36-team league phase of the competition to qualify directly for this stage, while PSG had to come through a two-legged play-off tie in which they crushed fellow French side Brest 10-0 on aggregate.

The first leg will take place at the Parc des Princes in Paris on March 4 or 5, with the return at Anfield a week later.

The clubs last met in the Champions League in the group stage in 2018/19, when PSG won 2-1 at home after Liverpool triumphed 3-2 in England.

In another eye-catching tie, reigning champions Real Madrid will play city rivals Atletico Madrid in a repeat of the finals of 2014 and 2016, both of which were won by Los Blancos.

Bayern Munich will take on German rivals Bayer Leverkusen, while Arsenal face PSV Eindhoven and Inter Milan take on Feyenoord, who are fresh from knocking out AC Milan in the play-offs.

Barcelona will face Benfica, who they defeated 5-4 away in Lisbon in the league phase last month.

Aston Villa will face Club Brugge, having already lost away to the Belgians in the league phase.

Last season’s beaten finalists Borussia Dortmund will take on French side Lille.

Source:  AFP

A Spanish court on Thursday convicted former football chief Luis Rubiales of sexual assault over the forced kiss he gave star forward Jenni Hermoso and fined him € 10,800 ($11,300).

But the court acquitted him and the three other accused of the charge of coercion in the case.

Prosecutors had sought a prison term of two-and-a-half years for Rubiales – one year for sexual assault and 18 months for coercion – for having allegedly pressured the player to downplay the incident.

Rubiales was accused of sexual assault for kissing Hermoso in 2023 following Spain’s triumph in the women’s World Cup in Australia, as well as coercion for allegedly trying to convince her to downplay the incident afterwards.

Rubiales will appeal his conviction for sexual assault over the forced kiss, his lawyer Olga Tubau Martinez said Thursday.

“Mr. Rubiales has decided to appeal the ruling,” she told AFP after the verdict in the trial.

Global outcry

The global outcry over the kiss forced Rubiales to resign in disgrace and thrust the spotlight on the prevalence of macho culture and sexism in sport.

Hermoso, 34, said on the opening day of the trial on February 3 she felt “disrespected” after a non-consensual kiss that “should not happen in any social or work setting”.

But Rubiales, 47, told the court on Tuesday he was “totally sure” Hermoso consented to the kiss as she went up to receive her winner’s medal, which was broadcast live around the world, and denied putting pressure on her after the incident.

He conceded he “made a mistake” on the podium, saying he should have “been in a more institutional role”, but denied any offence had been committed.

Rubiales’ stance on the stand contrasted with the defiance he displayed when the scandal broke.

During an emergency federation meeting in August 2023, he minimised the importance of the kiss and defied calls for his resignation, railing against “false feminism”.

Rubiales resigned in September that year after FIFA suspended him and Spanish prosecutors opened an investigation into alleged sexual assault. He had been federation chief since 2018.

Hermoso, the all-time top scorer for the Spain women’s team who now plays for Mexican club Tigres, was not called up to the national squad immediately after the World Cup.

The new coach Montse Tome said she wanted to protect the player and denied omitting her from the squad was a “punishment”.

(Source: AFP)

Manchester City’s Champions League campaign came to a tame conclusion at the Bernabeu as Kylian Mbappe’s brilliant hat-trick inspired holders Real Madrid to a comfortable victory and place in the last 16.

Pep Guardiola’s side were attempting to reverse a 3-2 deficit from the play-off first leg but this contest was effectively over after four minutes when Mbappe’s precise lob from Raul Asencio’s pass increased their advantage.

City, with Erling Haaland only fit enough for the bench, saw their plight worsen moments after Mbappe’s opener when they lost defender John Stones to injury.

And City’s earliest Champions League exit since they failed to get out of the group in 2012-13 edged closer when Mbappe showed brilliant close control to wrong-foot Josko Gvardiol before beating Ederson after 33 minutes.

The France forward’s third came just after the hour with a low shot as City subsided, barely laying a glove on Real all night as they were outclassed.

City pulled a goal back when Nico Gonzalez turned in his first goal for the club after Omar Marmoush’s free-kick hit the bar, but it was no consolation on a desperate night for the reigning Premier League champions.

It was a chastening experience for Guardiola, whose discomfort was particularly relished by Real’s fans because of his old Barcelona allegiances, as he faces a mammoth task to rebuild and restore City to Europe’s top table.

Source: BBC