Legendary former Bafana Bafana striker Benni McCarthy feels that Jose Mourinho should acknowledge he made a mistake with his “very wrong” comments in the Vinicius Jnr saga.
The Benfica manager spoke immediately after match saying Vinicius had been “disrespectful” in how he celebrated his goal making mention of the club’s legendary striker Eusebio as proof that the Portuguese outfit is not a racist club.
The Real Madrid forward scored the only goal in Los Blancos’ 1-0 Champions League win against Benfica on Tuesday.
Vinicius was then booked for his goal celebration with the match further marred by the alleged racist abuse from Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni. The match was halted for 10 minutes as Vinicious walked off the pitch.
The incident has led to UEFA opening an investigation into the claims, which the Argentinian player has denied.
Mourinho was red-carded in the tie after his remonstration against the referee which means he misses the retrun leg at the Bernabeu Stadium.
McCarthy, who was part of Mourinho’s 2004 Champions League winning squad that thrashed Monaco 3-0 in the final, has called on his mentor to admit making a mistake in his statement.
“The situation, he could have handled it better or chosen his words better, but emotions got the better of him,” McCarthy said, according to BBC World.
“I know the statement he made was very wrong. But we’re all human, we all make mistakes.
“When it comes from somebody I know personally and I know how he feels about our continent and our people and the players that play for him, he’s the most stand-up guy that any African player will ever play for.
“I think it was an emotional decision, tough, where he maybe made a call and it wasn’t the right call which he will later, hopefully come out and say that he made a mistake because that’s what I would like to think, that’s the kind of man he is.”
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