“Serene” Mourinho shuts the door on the row
Five days in, José Mourinho tried to end it. Speaking at his Saturday press conference, the Real Madrid manager said the Mbappé affair in China is closed and that he feels calm about it. His reasoning was short: his club is Real Madrid, his player is Kylian Mbappé, and both reacted with class straight away.
Asked about the substance, Mourinho kept it brief. In his words, the danger of today’s world is that very often the best thing is not to open your mouth. He added that Mbappé’s reaction was the right one.
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How the row grew
The trouble began with extra content from the podcast The Bridge, since removed. In the clip, Mbappé said the meme of himself that made him laugh the most linked him to a man he believed to be a Chinese dictator, in a reference to Mao Zedong. The remark caused an uproar in China.
Three major companies cut their contracts with the player first. Beijing then voiced its anger, and Chinese state broadcaster CCTV suspended its Liga coverage, even though the league, the club and the player all apologised in turn. The consequences were visible this weekend, when the channel skipped the first two games of the round.
Mourinho also looked back at the timing. The row broke the day after Mbappé missed out on the Ballon d’Or, finishing 28 points behind Harry Kane. The manager said he saw class and respect in the way his forward handled that defeat, and described him as intelligent, mature and highly self-assured.
Real Madrid travel to Racing Santander on Sunday afternoon, a game Chinese viewers will not see on their usual broadcaster.
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