Vincent Kompany spoke today about what happened in the Benfica-Real Madrid match. The Bayern Munich coach defended Vinícius Júnior, describing his reaction as a purely emotional response to the attacks he received.
According to Kompany, the evidence of racist gestures in the stands is undeniable and documented on video. "Vini's reaction cannot be faked. It was an emotional reaction (...) You can also see in the stadium that there were people making monkey gestures, it's on the video," he emphasized.
Kompany was particularly critical of José Mourinho's stance after the final whistle. The coach lamented that the Portuguese attacked the Brazilian's character to divert attention from the insults.
"For me, what happened after the match is even worse. Mourinho basically attacked Vini's character by using his celebration to discredit what he was doing," he stated firmly.
Using Eusebio, a mistake
One of the most tense points was Mourinho's mention of Eusébio to defend the image of the Portuguese club. Kompany questioned using the past to deny current racism.
"He said that Benfica cannot be racist because their best player was Eusébio. Does he know what black players had to go through in the 60s?" the coach asserted.
Despite the harshness of his words, Kompany tried to build a bridge towards professional reconciliation. Although he acknowledges Mourinho's mistake, he admitted that he considers him a good person fighting for his interests. "He made a mistake. I hope it doesn't happen again and we can move forward together," he concluded, hoping that these unfortunate episodes will disappear from stadiums for good.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.