After Jose Mourinho’s controversial reaction to Vinicius Jr’s allegation of racist abuse against Gianni Prestianni, Liam Rosenior has responded to the ex-Chelsea manager
Liam Rosenior opened up about the situation regarding the alleged racism in Benfica’s Champions League clash against Real Madrid(Image: YouTube/HaytersTV)
Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior opted not to make a direct comment against Jose Mourinho’s contentious reaction to the alleged racist abuse Vinicius Jr suffered. However, the Blues boss did open up about a time when he was racially abused.
Before the west Londoners’ most recent press conference, Real Madrid forward Vinicius accused Benfica star Gianni Prestianni of making a racist comment towards him during the match. There is video footage of the Brazilian immediately reacting and reporting the alleged comment to the referee, moments after Prestianni said something as he lifted his shirt over his mouth.
UEFA have already instigated an investigation into the incident, which will see Vinicius, Prestianni and any potential witnesses interviewed. Prestianni has denied making a racist comment or gesture towards the Madrid player.
However, after the match, Mourinho controversially said that Vinicius’ celebration after his goal at the Estadio Da Luz was “disrespectful” before suggesting the South American instigated the abuse.
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In his press conference ahead of Chelsea’s next match against Burnley, Rosenior described the incident as “upsetting,” but opted not to completely address Mourinho’s reaction. The Chelsea head coach said: “Again, it’s context. What I would say is regardless how a player celebrates, race should never come into it.
“That is an ongoing investigation. What I’m not going to do, I don’t know the context of the situation. I don’t know the context in which Jose said what he said, and I won’t make a judgement on it.
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“It’s the same thing. I won’t make a judgement until you get the facts. It’s difficult for me to make a judgement. What I will say is if any player or any coach is ever found guilty of racism, they shouldn’t be in the game. It’s as simple as that.”
When asked to address the actual incident, Rosenior looked back on a moment when he also received racial abuse. He said: “Its upsetting. There’s context that needs to be had in terms of this situation. Always there has to be context to it.
“What I will say, you can see any form of racism in society, let alone football, is unacceptable. It’s unacceptable. I cannot speak about an incident where an investigation is ongoing. I won’t speak about that incident.
“What I would say is when you see a player upset, how Vinicius Junior was upset, normally they’re upset for a reason. I’ve been racially abused myself. I know people have been racially abused.
“What people have to understand is when you are judged for something that you should be proud of, it is the worst feeling you can ever possibly imagine. There are historical things to racism. I need to, as manager of this unbelievable football club, make my statement on it.
“If any player or any coach or any manager has ever found guilty of racism, they shouldn’t be in the game. It’s as simple as that for me. What I will not do categorically is talk about one incident when there’s an ongoing investigation.”
Mourinho’s post-match comments about the situation with Vinicius have prompted some backlash. After the game, when asked if he felt the Real Madrid forward provoked the Benfica fans and players, he said: “Yes. I believe so. It should be the crazy moment of the game, an amazing goal. Unfortunately, he was not just happy to score that astonishing goal. When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way.”
He added: “I told [Vinicius], when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back. When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person in the history of this club [Eusebio] was black.
“This club, the last thing that it is, is racist. If in his mind there was something in relation to that, this is Benfica. They [Vinicius and Prestianni] told me different things. But I don’t believe in one or another. I want to be an independent.”
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