John Obi Mikel has claimed his former boss Jose Mourinho will know he has 'f***ed up' regarding his response to the Vinicius Jr racism row. Vinicius Jr accused Gianluca Prestianni of calling him a 'monkey' while covering his face during the first leg of Real Madrid's Champions League play-off tie against Benfica. Benfica boss Mourinho has faced a backlash for his post-match comments after last week's match. Mourinho suggested Vinicius Jr had incited the crowd with his celebration after scoring the only goal of the match and referenced Benfica's legend Eusebio as proof that the Portuguese side are not racist. 'So for him to come out and say “Oh yeah, Vinicius Jr shouldn’t have celebrated the way he did”, that was a clumsy, clumsy comment from Jose Mourinho.

Source: Daily Mail February 23, 2026 20:08 UTC