Jose Mourinho floors rival manager as three reds shown in fiery Fenerbahce derby | Football | Sport
Jose Mourinho was involved in a bizarre exchange with Galatasaray boss Okan Buruk during the latter stages of the Istanbul derby. The former Chelsea boss was in the losing dugout as Fenerbahce slipped to a narrow defeat at the hands of their biggest rivals. Victor Osimhen scored two early goals from the penalty spot to hand victory to Galatasaray, with Sebastian Szymanski pulling one back for the hosts.
Tempers flared in the closing stages, with Mourinho and Buruk involved in an ugly exchange which prompted a scuffle on the pitch. The pair appeared to be discussing something when Mourinho grabbed the nose of his rival, sending him crashing to the floor. Buruk stayed on the ground clutching his face as Galatasaray goalkeeper Fernando Muslera rushed over to remonstrate with Mourinho.
Both sets of players then got involved in a shoving match, with several members of staff also failing to control their emotions. Police intervened to restore order and a total of four red cards were shown to the worst offenders.
Mert Hakan Yandas, Salvatore Foti, Kerem Demirbay, and Baris Alper Yilmaz were all dismissed for their involvement in the melee, though Mourinho escaped immediate punishment.
It did not mark the first time that Mourinho had lashed out at an opposing manager. During his time in charge of Real Madrid, he poked Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova in the eye during a ferocious touchline brawl.
The incident was not spotted by the referee, meaning it went unpunished as there was no VAR back then. Mourinho was later handed a two-game ban, applying to games in the Spanish Super Cup, which was eventually overturned.
A decade later, the Portuguese boss admitted that he was in the wrong and insisted that if he could turn back time and handle things differently, he would have done.
“I was the one in the wrong,” he said. “I shouldn’t have done what I did. Of course not, that negative image stays forever. Tito had nothing to do with it. I apologise to him.
“I was a victim of myself. If I could, this would be one of the things I would never repeat. Before that, I had been winning, winning and winning. I got into this state that if I wasn’t winning, it seemed like the end of the world to me.”
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