Vincent Kompany made a clear statement at the FC Bayern press conference. The coach spoke for almost twelve minutes about the alleged racism incident involving Vinicius Junior – and sharply criticized José Mourinho
Vincent Kompany was unusually emotional at the press conference ahead of the match against Eintracht Frankfurt. The 39-year-old spoke at length about the alleged racism incident in the Champions League match between Benfica Lisbon and Real Madrid, in which Vinícius Júnior was apparently insulted because of the color of his skin
When asked about the scene, the Bayern coach made it clear that he would not answer any more sporting questions after this topic. The matter was too serious for him. His answer lasted almost twelve minutes – a powerful monologue about responsibility, leadership and dealing with racism
Kompany clearly backs Vinícius
Kompany backed the Real professional without reservation: „I saw it live. When you see the action, Vinicius Junior’s reaction can’t be fake. His reaction is emotional. I don’t see a single advantage for him to go to the referee and put all this misery on his own shoulders. There would be no reason at all for Vinicius to do something like that. Kylian Mbappé was also there. He’s a player who normally always remains calm and diplomatic. But he too was very clear about what he heard and saw. He also spoke about it after the game.“
Im Anschluss richtete er den Blick auf die Reaktionen nach Abpfiff – und kritisierte insbesondere Benfica-Trainer José Mourinho deutlich: „Was nach dem Spiel passiert ist, ist sogar noch schlimmer gewesen. José Mourinho, der Anführer der Mannschaft, hat den Charakter von Vinicius Junior attackiert, indem er die Art seines Torjubels thematisiert hat. In Bezug auf Führung ist das für mich ein großer Fehler. Und das ist etwas, was wir nicht akzeptieren sollten. Obendrein nennt er den Namen von Eusébio. Er sagt, dass Benfica nicht rassistisch sein kann, weil der beste Spieler der Klubgeschichte Eusébio ist. Aber weiß er, was schwarze Spieler in den 60er Jahren durchmachen mussten? War er da, um mit Eusébio zu jedem Auswärtsspiel zu reisen? Mein Vater ist eine schwarze Person aus den 1960ern, der damals seinen Weg gegangen ist. Damals war ihre einzige Option, still zu sein, nichts zu sagen, darüberzustehen und zehnmal besser zu sein, um ein bisschen Anerkennung zu bekommen. Das ist wahrscheinlich E
„He’s a good person – but he made a mistake“
At the same time, Kompany made it clear that his criticism related to the behaviour in this situation – not to Mourinho’s character: „I’ve met 100 people who have worked with José Mourinho and I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about him. All the players who have played under him love him. You can’t be a bad person when all your ex-players speak so positively about you. So I know he’s a good person. I understand what he did there, that he’s fighting for his club and his team – but he made a mistake. That’s something that hopefully won’t happen again in the future, so that we can look forward and grow. That we can look at what we can do together and not at the things that divide us.“
In conclusion, Kompany broadened his focus to the fundamental problem in soccer: „Vinicius is in a position to be able to say something. There are still many players in different leagues today – even in Europe – who don’t have a voice. There are players in Hungary, in Bulgaria and Serbia who have no chance of getting any support if something happens to them and they are black. Vini is at least in a position where he can take this moment and protest – because many people before him have made it possible.“
