Super Eagles’ former captain, John Mikel Obi has taken a swipe at Benfica of Portugal coach, Jose Mourinho, faulting the gaffer’s reaction to racist allegation raised by Real Madrid winger, Vinicius Junior.
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Sports247 reports that Mikel is in disagreement with the coach who gave him a breakthrough at Chelsea of England, as the iconic midfielder says Mourinho got it wrong in his condemnation of Vinicius.
Rather than look into the racist allegations, Mourinho appeared to be taking sides with his player, Gianluca Prestianni, as the tactician scolded Vinicius for ‘over celebrating’ his goal against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League.
Mourinho stated afterwards, “When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way. The words they exchange, Prestianni with Vinicius, I want to be independent. I don’t comment about it.”
However, Mikel has now spoken out in disagreement with ‘The Special One,’ as the Lyn Oslo of Norway product, who also played for Stoke City and Middlesbrough in England, emphasised that Mourinho disappointed him.
Mikel, who also played for Tianjin TEDA in China and Trabzonspor in Turkey, declared emphatically on his ‘Obi One Podcast’ that Mourinho’s verdict was ‘clumsy’ and he expects his former gaffer to give an apology.
“What I expected to hear from my old boss, from my gaffer, it is under investigation, but there is no place for racism, there is no place for such thing, but let’s wait until it is concluded, there is no place for that.
“So, for him to come out and say, ‘Vinicius Jr shouldn’t have celebrated the way he did.’ That was a clumsy, clumsy comment from Jose Mourinho. I don’t know why he hasn’t apologised, but I expect him to make a statement soon.”
