Jose Mourinho gets hefty fine after 8-minute rant against referee in Turkish Football Federation

Jose Mourinho is in hot water after his amazing "smells bad" tirade against VAR referee Atilla Karaoglan following Fenerbahce's victory against Trabzonspor. In a contentious game, Fenerbahce prevailed thanks to a late goal from Sofyan Amrabat during the 12th minute of injury time. Despite the victory, Mourinho was not happy, claiming that Trabzonspor was disproportionately favored by the VAR officiating, especially because the home team was given two controversial penalties.

Jose Mourinho said, “Today, the man of the match was [VAR referee] Atilla Karaoglan. We didn’t see him, but he was the referee of the match. We don’t want him again. We don’t want him because it smells bad. We don’t want him. We don’t want him on the pitch, but on the VAR even less."

Beyond only criticizing specific choices, Mourinho also pointed out the difficulties of playing in such conditions and charged that the entire refereeing system was skewed. The former Manchester United manager said, “We play against a system. And to play against a system is the most difficult thing.”

Jose Mourinho gets hefty fine by Turkish Football Federation

The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) responded to Jose Mourinho's uninhibited remarks with a hefty fine and other sanctions after they were recognized. The federation said in a statement on Thursday that Mourinho's comments were disrespectful to Turkish football and that they were unsportsmanlike.

The Turkish Federation issued a statement against Mourinho as it said, “In the post-match flash interview and press conference are evaluated as a whole; the statements in question are contrary to sportsmanship, sports ethics or the concept of fair play, damage the reputation of the TFF, aim to diminish the value of Turkish football, cast a shadow over the impartiality of the referees and other match officials, and are therefore punished with a discretionary fine of 900,000 TL (£20,178) in accordance with Article 38/4-a of the FDT due to Unsportsmanlike Statements."