Fenerbahce coach Jose Mourinho said he felt disrespected after waiting more than an hour to attend a post-match news conference.
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Mourinho felt “disrespected”
Mourinho’s side suffered a 3-1 defeat in the Istanbul derby against Galatasaray, marking Fenerbahce’s first Super Lig loss of the season.
The 61-year-old did not attend the post-match press conference but stated that he waited over an hour for his turn in the flash interview.
Mourinho added that he even shook Galatasaray coach Okan Buruk’s hand to congratulate him after the match.
“In 24 years of football, I never in my life escaped from a press conference, especially after a defeat,” Mourinho, who took charge of Fenerbahce in June, said.
“I never had fear of any journalist, any question or any press conference. So [it] wouldn’t be with you that I was going to change my way of being.”
“The game finished, I congratulated the opposing coach. I went direct to the flash interview and then I was 70 minutes waiting to go to the press conference.”
“I tried to go, I was not allowed to go, and I was in the door of the press conference trying to go.”
“Nothing to do with the result”
Mourinho also emphasized that the outcome of the game did not influence his decision to skip the press conference.
Instead, he explained that it “doesn’t make any sense” to wait so long for his turn at the postgame conference.
“It has nothing to do with the result. It has nothing to do with anything else, only to do with something that is correct or is not correct,” he said.
“The next match will happen the same. I go to the flash interview immediately after the game because that is the logic of the flash interview.”
“The flash interview is not 20 minutes after the game. The flash interview is the flash after the game. You finish the game, you go to the flash.”
“Then you wait 15 minutes, 20 minutes, half an hour and the away coach goes [first to the press conference]. [To wait] 70 minutes, I’m sorry, but it is lack of respect. If anybody felt disrespected, I am the one that felt disrespected.”
