Turkish football club Galatasaray have accused the manager of Fenerbahce, Jose Mourinho, of making "racist statements" and vowed to take legal action against him.
This follows a 0-0 draw between the two Turkish clubs in their Super Lig match on Monday.
At a press conference, Mourinho said the home side's bench had been "jumping like monkeys".
Galatasaray said on X that Mourinho had "persistently issued derogatory statements directed towards the Turkish people" since taking up his role in the league.
'Inhumane rhetoric'
"Today, his discourse has escalated beyond merely immoral comments into unequivocally inhumane rhetoric," the club said.
"We hereby formally declare our intention to initiate criminal proceedings concerning the racist statements made by Jose Mourinho and shall accordingly submit official complaints to UEFA and FIFA."
However, Fenerbahce say the post-match remarks by Mourinho had been "distorted in a misleading manner."
"As any reasonable person can clearly recognize, the expression used by Jose Mourinho was solely intended to describe the excessive reaction of the opposing team’s technical staff to the referee’s decisions during the match," Fenerbahce said on X.
The club stressed it would exercise "legal rights" against the "baseless accusation," insisting Mourinho's "remarks cannot, under any circumstances, be associated with racism."
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