Durban — Jose Mourinho leapt to the rescue of Sampdoria manager Dejan Stankovic after a section of Roma supporters hurled racist and derogatory insults towards the Serbian.
Roma comfortably beat Sampdoria 3-0 in a Serie A clash on Saturday thanks to goals from Georginio Wijnaldum, Paulo Dybala and Stephan El Shaarawy.
𝖱𝗈𝗆𝖺 𝖿𝖺𝗇𝗌 𝗐𝖾𝗋𝖾 𝗍𝖺𝗋𝗀𝖾𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗂𝗌𝗍 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗍𝗌 𝗍𝗈𝗐𝖺𝗋𝖽𝗌 𝖲𝖺𝗆𝗉𝖽𝗈𝗋𝗂𝖺 𝗆𝖺𝗇𝖺𝗀𝖾𝗋, 𝖣𝖾𝗃𝖺𝗇 𝖲𝗍𝖺𝗇𝗄𝗈𝗏𝗂𝖼...
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𝖩𝗈𝗌𝖾 𝖬𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗁𝗈 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗏𝖾𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝖽𝖾𝖿𝖾𝗇𝖽 𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗆𝖾𝗋 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗒𝖾𝗋. pic.twitter.com/xivslEF0V5
Mourinho's Roma welcomed a Stankovic-led Sampdoira to the Stadio Olimpico with Roma eyeing Champions League football next season, while the Genoa-based side are staring at relegation.
Stankovic was part of Mourinho's famed treble-winning Inter Milan team in 2010, and they shared a warm embrace before the game.
However midway through the match, a raucous section of Roma fans began yelling distasteful expressions towards a very emotional Stankovic which led Mourinho to intervene as the scenes got ugly.
The surge of abuse towards Stankovic was said to be because of his ties with Roma's bitter rivals Lazio, a club he represented more than 200 times before joining Inter.
Mourinho halted the racist chants from Roma fans with an arm raise, which seemed to dull the chants, before he gave a thumbs up after they came to an end.
When quizzed about the incident in his post-match press conference Mourinho said: “You don’t have to thank me, I did it for a great man and friend. I’ve been insulted many times and in different ways in the stadiums of this world, I’ve built a wall around me for protection and I’m sure Deki (Stankovic) did the same. He’s a big man, but he’s got kids and a family.”
Last year Mourinho also intervened when Roma fans directed similar abuse towards Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is of Bosniak descent.
IOL Sport