Benni McCarthy faults Mourinho over comments after alleged racial abuse of Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr 'statement was very wrong'

Benfica's manager, Jose Mourinho, attracted widespread criticism when he failed to condemn Gianluca Prestianni, who is accused of racial abuse controversy by Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr.

After the Brazilian scored, he riled the home fans by celebrating at the corner flag, and he was booked for it, but tempers flared even more when words were exchanged between him and the Benfica winger.

The Los Blancos superstar accused Prestianni of racially abusing him, but it is Mourinho's comments thereafter that created even more controversy.

Mourinho, who spoke with Vinicius at the time of the incident, appeared to criticise the Brazilian thereafter.

“Regretful for what? I’ve spoken with both of them. Vinicius says one thing, and Prestianni says another. I don’t want to be ‘red’… and I don’t want to say that I 100% support Prestianni, but I can’t be ‘white’ and say that what Vinicius told me is the truth. I can’t, I don’t know; only that up until the goal, it was a great match," Mourinho said.

“I already said it in the flash interview, and I’ve tried to be more balanced than [Alvaro] Arbeloa and Mbappe. It’s not that I want to say Vinicius is a liar, and mine is an incredible kid. They’ve gone down a different path.

"It happens in so many stadiums, and it’s always the same thing… Something’s not working. Vinicius scored a fantastic goal. Why didn’t he celebrate like Eusebio, Pele, or [Alfredo] Di Stefano? Why didn’t he? The game was over with that play.”

Former Bafana Bafana star McCarthy, who himself played under Mourinho during their time at Porto, has faulted the manager's comments but added emotions might have got the better of the 'Special One'.

"The situation – he could have handled it better or chosen his words better, but emotions got the better of him. I know the statement he made was very wrong. But we're all human; we all make mistakes," McCarthy told BBC World Service.

"When it comes from somebody I know personally, and I know how he feels about our continent and our people and the players that play for him, he's the most stand-up guy that any African player will ever play for," the former Orlando Pirates star added.

"I think it was an emotional decision, tough, where he maybe made a call, and it wasn't the right call, which he will later, hopefully, come out and say that he made a mistake because that's what I would like to think; that's the kind of man he is."

Bayern Munich's Vincent Kompany has added his voice on the issue, pointing out that 'it was a huge mistake'.

“Jose Mourinho has basically attacked the character of Vini Jr by bringing in the type of Vini's celebration to discredit what he was doing at that moment. It was a huge mistake in terms of leadership," Kompany said. 

“On top of that, Mourinho mentioned the name of Eusebio. He said Benfica cannot be racist because their best-ever player was Eusebio. Do you know what Black players had to go through in the 60s? Was he there to travel with Eusebio to every away game and see what he went through? To use his name today to make a point about Vini Jr.

“To be honest, I don't actually see my place in a lot of things that are happening today, so I don't want to be part of one group or the other. I met 100 people who worked with Jose Mourinho. I've never heard someone say something bad about Jose. All his players love him."