{"id":43424,"date":"2026-02-18T10:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/jose-mourinho-condemns-nasty-comments-about-vinicius-junior-benfica-issue-new-statement\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T10:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:09:17","slug":"jose-mourinho-condemns-nasty-comments-about-vinicius-junior-benfica-issue-new-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/jose-mourinho-condemns-nasty-comments-about-vinicius-junior-benfica-issue-new-statement\/","title":{"rendered":"Jose Mourinho condemns &#8216;nasty&#8217; comments about Vinicius Junior, Benfica issue new statement"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/jose-mourinho-condemns-nasty-comments-about-vinicius-junior-benfica-issue-new-statement\/#Benfica_statement_regarding_Gianluca_Prestiani\" >Benfica statement regarding Gianluca Prestiani<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/jose-mourinho-condemns-nasty-comments-about-vinicius-junior-benfica-issue-new-statement\/#Pundits_continue_to_criticize_Jose_Mourinho\" >Pundits continue to criticize Jose Mourinho<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>Vinicius Junior and Jose Mourinho (Photo by Angel Martinez, Stu Forster\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Benfica have issued a new statement following allegations of racist abuse against Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior during last night&#8217;s match.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Vinicius accused Benfica&#8217;s Gianluca Prestiani of racism, which was backed up by Real Madrid teammate Kylian Mbapp\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p>Benfica still defends its players and insists it is not a club that supports racism or discrimination of any kind.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, at this point, the Portuguese giants appear to be digging an even deeper hole when they should be apologizing and taking appropriate action.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vinicius Junior playing for Real Madrid (Photo by Jose Manuel \u00c1lvarez Rey\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Benfica_statement_regarding_Gianluca_Prestiani\"><\/span>Benfica statement regarding Gianluca Prestiani<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>According to BBC Sport, Benfica&#8217;s latest statement is as follows:<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Sport Lisboa and Benfica accept the measures announced today by UEFA in the spirit of full cooperation, transparency, openness and clarity following the allegations of racism that occurred in the match against Real Madrid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The Club clearly and unequivocally reaffirms its historic and unwavering commitment to upholding the values \u200b\u200bof equality, respect and inclusion. These values \u200b\u200bare in line with the core values \u200b\u200bon which the Club was founded and of which Eusebio is its greatest symbol.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Sport Lisboa e Benfica reiterates that it fully supports and believes in the version presented by Gianluca Prestiani. His actions during his time at the club have always been based on respect for the opponents, the organization and the principles that define Benfica&#8217;s identity. The club deplores the defamation campaign against which the player has been subjected.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Pundits_continue_to_criticize_Jose_Mourinho\"><\/span>Pundits continue to criticize Jose Mourinho<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Benfica manager Jose Mourinho has personally received a lot of negative press for the way he handled the situation.<\/p>\n<p>The former Chelsea and Manchester United manager criticized the players&#8217; celebrations as provocative and was clearly trying to shift the blame onto Vinicius himself.<\/p>\n<p>Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has accused Mourinho of being a hypocrite, as Mourinho himself is someone who likes to involve opposition fans, while ex-Tottenham midfielder Jamie O&#8217;Hara has slammed Mourinho&#8217;s comments on Sky Sports, calling them &#8220;disgusting&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">O&#8217;Hara said: &#8220;What Jose Mourinho has come out and said is disgusting. The comments are disgraceful and they really are. He attacked him to celebrate a goal. He scored a great goal that we should all be talking about.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;His celebration is totally fine. He&#8217;s enjoying the moment. He gets warned by the referee for celebrating, which is equally disgraceful in my opinion, and then he gets taunted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cThen he had to go to the referee and say that I was abused, and I think it&#8217;s outrageous and completely unfair for Jose Mourinho to come out and say it&#8217;s his fault.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I cannot say that he caused it because he is the one who is being targeted. I think Mourinho will regret what he said. I think he made a big mistake and questioning Vinicius Junior is out of order.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vinicius Junior and Jose Mourinho (Photo by Angel Martinez, Stu Forster\/Getty Images) Benfica have issued a new statement following allegations of racist abuse against Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior during last night&#8217;s match. Vinicius accused Benfica&#8217;s Gianluca Prestiani of racism, which was backed up by Real Madrid teammate Kylian Mbapp\u00e9. Benfica still defends its players [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[40],"class_list":{"0":"post-43424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}