Former Chelsea and Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba weighed in on the racism row involving his old coach Jose Mourinho on Wednesday, saying the Portuguese coach “is not a racist and history is there to prove it.”
Mourinho, who coaches Fenerbahce in Turkey, was accused by Galatasaray of making racist comments after a 0-0 draw between the rivals teams that was refereed by a Slovenian official on Monday.
Mourinho was asked about a challenge early in the match and said a Turkish referee would have reacted with a yellow card “after the big dive and their [Galatasaray’s] bench jumping around like monkeys.”
Galatasaray said they planned to start criminal proceedings against Mourinho, citing “racist statements,” and filed complaints with football’s governing bodies.
A day later, Fenerbahce rejected the accusation, saying the remarks had nothing to do with racism and were “deliberately taken entirely out of context and distorted in a misleading manner.”
The club said it was planning to take a legal action “against this baseless accusation.”
In a post on social media platform X, Drogba — who played under Mourinho at Chelsea in two separate spells — said he had seen the comments about his former coach.
“Trust me when I tell you I have known Jose for 25 years and he is not a racist and history [past and recent] is there to prove it,” Drogba, who is Black, wrote. “Let’s focus on our games, support our brilliant lions and let’s win the league.”
Drogba added: “How can my ‘Dad’ be a racist. Come on guys.”
The Turkish football federation’s disciplinary board is expected to make an announcement on the incident in the coming days.