Fenerbahce have hit out at the “absurdity” of Galatasaray boss Okan Buruk’s actions following his clash with Jose Mourinho on Wednesday.
Galatasaray won a hotly-contested Turkish Cup game 2-1 against their fierce rivals, after which Mourinho appeared to grab Buruk by the nose, prompting him to collapse to the floor theatrically.
🚨🚨 Fenerbahçe manager Jose Mourinho to Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk. 😳👃 pic.twitter.com/BF7hk23AFF
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) April 2, 2025
Gala accused Mourinho of “physically attacking” Buruk, with Fener hitting back in a strongly worded statement.
It read: “This was a planned provocation [by Buruk] and as part of this plan the individual acted as if he had been ‘shot’ and fell to the ground in a professional manner, and his disrespectful words and actions are documented on video.
“The absurdity of someone who is touched on the nose immediately throwing himself to the ground and writhing for seconds is clear to the public.
“It is evident that this individual’s tendency to fall to the ground, seen during his playing days, continues in his coaching career, showing that this behaviour is a characteristic attitude.”
Buruk attempted to play the incident down after the game but Gala’s social media team clearly didn’t get the memo and posted an animated clip featuring a cartoon version of Mourinho, captioning it with, “Galatasaray drives you crazy.”
This incident adds to an already eventful season for Mourinho, who has been no stranger to controversy. The Portuguese has frequently criticised refereeing in Turkey and received a four-game suspension in February after making remarks about match officials following an earlier encounter with Galatasaray.
Additionally, Mourinho was accused of racism by Galatasaray after that same match. The club condemned his comments as “unequivocally inhumane rhetoric” when he described the opposition bench as “jumping around like monkeys.”
Mourinho took legal action against the club over the allegations.
