'Huge mistake' - Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany criticises Jose Mourinho reaction to Vinicius Junior as 'something that we should not accept'
Published 21/02/2026 at 09:16 GMT
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The fallout from Real Madrid's 1-0 win over Benfica continued on Friday when Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany said that the Portuguese's club boss, Jose Mourinho, had made a "huge mistake" by calling into question the behaviour of Vinicius Junior, who alleged that he suffered racial abuse in the UEFA Champions League play-off tie. UEFA have announced they will investigate the incident.
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Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany said Jose Mourinho made a "huge mistake" with his reaction to accusations of racism from Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior.
The controversy began on Tuesday when Madrid won 1-0 at Benfica in their UEFA Champions League play-off tie in Portugal.
Shortly after Vinicius’ goal, Benfica’s winger Gianluca Prestianni approached the Brazilian, with Vinicius then alerting the match referee, who began UEFA’s racism protocol.
The match came to a halt for around 10 minutes and afterward, Vinicius, Benfica, Mourinho, and Prestianni all commented on the incident, either to the press or on social media.
The Portuguese manager had already been sent off in the match, and told the press that Vinicius had been "disrespectful" with his goal celebration, and then invoked Eusebio’s standing as a Benfica legend as a defence against accusations of racism.
UEFA have since said they will investigate, and Benfica said they would co-operate with the governing body.
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Mourinho’s reaction has attracted criticism, and Bayern manager Kompany touched on the subject when he attended a pre-match press conference ahead of his side’s game with Eintracht Frankfurt, which takes place on Saturday.
"After the game you have [the] leader of an organisation, Jose Mourinho, who basically attacks the character of Vinicius Junior by bringing in the type of celebration to discredit what Vinicius is doing in this moment," said Kompany.
"For me, in terms of leadership, it's a huge mistake, and it's something that we should not accept."
Discussing the mention of Eusebio by Mourinho, he said: "Do you know what black players had to go through in the 1960s? Was he [Mourinho] there to travel with Eusebio to every away game?
"Probably at the time, the only option they had was to be quiet, to say nothing, be above it and to be 10 times better in order to get a little bit of credit for people to say 'actually, he is good'. That was Eusebio's life."
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'He has made a mistake' - Kompany unimpressed by Mourinho's reaction
Kompany drew comparison with Mourinho’s own enthusiastic celebrations from his past managerial tenures, given the manager had criticised Vinicius’ reactions.
"I'm just thinking when Jose Mourinho is doing the knee slide at Old Trafford, when he does his celebration in front of the [Barcelona] fans in the Champions League semi-final with Inter Milan, when his Roma are playing Sevilla, and he is fighting with the referee and the referee has to leave the country under protection," he added.
"I know 100 people who have worked with Jose Mourinho. I've never heard a person say anything bad about Jose.
"I understand he is fighting for his team and his club. You cannot be a bad person and have all the ex-players you have had talk so positively about you.
"I don't need to judge him as a person, but I know what I've heard. And I understand maybe what he has done, but he has made a mistake."
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