Jose Mourinho accused of "physically attacking" rival manager

Controversial football manager Jose Mourinho could be in hot water after grabbing rival coach Okan Buruk’s face at the end of Fenerbahce’s 2-1 Turkish Cup defeat to bitter rivals Galatasaray.

Video footage showed Fenerbahce boss Mourinho appearing to pinch Buruk’s nose following the final whistle, with the Galatasaray manager falling to the pitch and holding his face in his hands.

Mourinho was quickly escorted out of the area, while Buruk was attended to by medical officials.

Galatasaray’s vice-president Metin Ozturk accused Mourinho of “physically attacking” Buruk, who downplayed the incident in a post-match interview.

“There was nothing between me and Mourinho,” Buruk said.

“He pinched my nose from behind. There was a slight scratch. Of course, it wasn’t a very nice or elegant thing to do.

“We expect managers to behave more appropriately in such situations. I won’t exaggerate this issue, but it wasn’t a classy move.”

The match was filled with drama as one Fenerbahce player and two from Galatasaray were red-carded in injury time after a melee broke out.

The two sides have a fierce rivalry, with Galatasaray based on the European side of Istanbul, while Fenerbahce are based on the Asian side.

It’s not the first time Mourinho has found himself under the spotlight in Turkey.

In February, Mourinho was accused by Galatasaray of making racist comments after he referred to the opposition bench “jumping around like monkeys”.

Mourinho also came under the spotlight in 2011 while in charge of Real Madrid when he poked Barcelona assistant Tito Vilanova, which led to a ban.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission