Fenerbahce coach Jose Mourinho has said he is the opposite of racist following allegations made against him by his club¡¯s Turkish rival Galatasaray.

The 62-year-old Portuguese was accused by Galatasaray of making racist comments following the scoreless Super Lig draw between the teams last week, after which he said the home side¡¯s bench had been ¡°jumping like monkeys.¡±

¡°They (Galatasaray) were not clever in the way they attacked me, because they didn¡¯t know my past,¡± Mourinho, who has coached Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United during his career, told Sky Sports in an interview.

¡°They didn¡¯t know my connections with Africa, with African people and African players and African charities.

¡°So instead of going against me, I think it boomeranged and went against them.¡±

Fenerbahce said Mourinho¡¯s comments were taken out of context, and that he was suing Galatasaray for 1,907,000 Turkish lira ($52,366.37) due to ¡°the attack on the personal rights¡± of their Portuguese coach.

¡°Everyone knows who I am as a person,¡± Mourinho said. ¡°Everybody knows my bad qualities, but that is not one of my bad qualities. Exactly the opposite!

¡°The most important thing is I know who I am, and the attack accusing racism was a bad choice.¡±

Former Cote d¡¯Ivoire striker Didier Drogba and former Ghana midfielder Michael Essien, who both played under Mourinho at Chelsea, came out in his defense.

¡°I¡¯ve seen the recent comments about Jose Mourinho,¡± Drogba, who also played for Galatasaray, said. ¡°Trust me when I tell you, I have known Jose for 25 years, and he is not a racist and history (past and recent) is there to prove it.

¡°How can my ¡¯Dad¡¯ be a racist. Come on guys.¡±

Mourinho also said the derby with Galatasaray would have been a ¡°disaster¡± if a Turkish referee had been in charge rather than Slovenian Slavko Vincic, who was appointed at the request of both clubs.

The Turkish Football Federation banned Mourinho for four games and fined him 1,617,000 Turkish lira ($44,316.55) for what it said were ¡°derogatory and offensive statements towards the Turkish referees¡± and accusations of chaos and disorder in Turkish soccer.

The ban and fine were later reduced to two matches and 558,500 Turkish lira ($15,306.61) after Fenerbahce appealed.