José Mourinho appeared to grab rival manager Okan Buruk’s nose amid wild scenes at the end of Fenerbahce’s 2-1 Turkish Cup defeat to bitter rivals Galatasaray.
Video footage showed Mourinho appearing to pinch Buruk’s nose following the final whistle, with the Galatasaray head coach falling to the pitch and holding his face in his hands. Buruk was left lying on his back as Mourinho was dragged away, following an ill-tempered game where three players were red-carded from the bench.
Galatasaray’s vice-president, Metin Ozturk, claimed that after both managers had spoken to the match officials, “Mourinho first verbally and then physically attacked [Buruk] … Where else in the world can he do this? What does he think of Turkey?”
“I believe that Fenerbahce’s management will impose the necessary sanction before the federation does,” Ozturk added. In his post-game press conference, Buruk tried to play the incident down although admitted it was “not a classy move”.
“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.”
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Victor Osimhen had sent Galatasaray on their way to victory in the quarter-final tie with a first-half double. The Nigeria forward pounced on a loose ball after just 10 minutes to open the scoring, adding his second from the penalty spot in the 27th minute after VAR penalised a Filip Kostic handball in the area.
Sebastian Szymanski pulled one back for the hosts on the stroke of half-time, with VAR intervening again after the goal was initially ruled out for offside. In the second half, Irfan Egribayat denied Gala’s Gabriel Sara from close range, but Buruk’s Super Lig leaders saw out the result to boost their bid for a league and cup double.
A skirmish in stoppage time led to Galatasaray’s Baris Alper Yilmaz – who had just been taken off – and unused substitute Kerem Demirbay being dismissed. Mert Hakan Yandas was sent from the Fenerbahce bench, before Mourinho was shown a red card for his altercation with Buruk after the final whistle.
Galatasaray continued the row on social media after the game, posting on X: “you should not attack, you should digest” alongside a picture of Buruk smiling next to Mourinho on the touchline. Galatasaray lead Fenerbahce by six points in the Super Lig having played a game more, and Wednesday’s win boosted their hopes of a double.
In February, Mourinho was accused of making racist comments by Galatasaray after a goalless Super Lig draw between the Istanbul rivals. Galatasaray said the Portuguese manager had used “unequivocally inhumane rhetoric” after he referred to the opposition bench “jumping around like monkeys”.
Fenerbahce rejected the accusation and claimed they had filed a lawsuit against Galatasaray for an “attack on the personal rights” of Mourinho.
In 2011 when he was the Real Madrid manager, Mourinho poked the then-Barcelona assistant, Tito Vilanova, in the eye after a row broke out in the two teams’ Spanish Super Cup game. He was handed a two-match ban which was ultimately lifted as part of a wider amnesty on suspensions in 2012.
Buruk’s side will face Konyaspor in the semi-finals. Trabzonspor are also through as they beat Bodrumspor 3-2 at home after extra time, in a game with two red cards for the hosts and one for the visitors.
Stuttgart into Cup final, Milan derby drawn
VfB Stuttgart defeated RB Leipzig 3-1 on Wednesday to reach the German Cup final for the first time in 12 years and pile more misery on their crisis-hit opponents.
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Stuttgart, who last won the DFB-Pokal in 1997 and lost to Bayern Munich in the 2013 showpiece, will face third-tier club Arminia Bielefeld in the final, after they shocked holders Bayer Leverkusen with a 2-1 comeback win on Tuesday.
Angelo Stiller fired the hosts into a fifth-minute lead when he scored from 25 yards out with an unstoppable volley. The Stuttgart keeper Alexander Nübel then Loïs Openda three times as Leipzig, Pokal winners in 2022 and 2023, went in search of an equaliser. Stuttgart took charge as they scored again in the 56th minute as Nick Woltemade finished off a superb passing move.
Leipzig, who sacked manager Marco Rose on Sunday after falling to sixth in the Bundesliga table, hit back in the 62nd minute through Benjamin Sesko. VfB restored their two-goal cushion in the 73rd minute when Jamie Leweling stabbed the ball over the line after a goalmouth scramble, and held on despite Leipzig hitting the woodwork late on.
“Yes, we will go to Berlin,” said the Stuttgart coach, Sebastian Hoeness. “It’s a dream – [and] obviously we want more now.” The interim Leizpig coach, Zsolt Low, could not deliver a result with Red Bull’s global head of soccer, Jürgen Klopp, watching from the stands. “The disappointment is bitter. In many areas we were better than Stuttgart,” said Low.
In the Coppa Italia, Internazionale recovered from a goal down to earn a 1-1 draw with Milan in the first leg of their semi-final tie. In a goalless first half, Rafael Leão was denied by Inter keeper Josep Martínez before Hakan Calhanoglu tested Mike Maignan with a thunderous free kick.
Tammy Abraham gave Milan the lead just after the break with an angled shot into the bottom corner. Inter levelled through a powerful long-range effort from Calhanoglu in the 67th minute. The winners of the second leg look likely to face Bologna, who won their first leg 3-0 at Empoli, in the final.
In the Coupe de France, Stade de Reims ended fourth-tier Cannes’ fairytale run with a 2-1 away victory in the semi-finals. Hafiz Ibrahim put the visitors in front, slotting home after 14 minutes – but Cheikh Ndoye headed home seven minutes after the restart to give the underdogs hope.
Teddy Teuma struck soon after, though, finishing from Ibrahim’s pass to send Reims through to their first French Cup final since 1977. They will take on Paris Saint-Germain at the Stade de France in May after PSG fought back to beat Ligue 2 side Dunkerque 4-2 on Tuesday.
