JOSE MOURINHO was forced to plead with his OWN Roma fans to stop racially abusing the opposition manager.
Roma were struggling to find the deadlock in their Serie A encounter against Sampdoria at the weekend, locked at 0-0.
Sampdoria boss Dejan Stankovic, who comes from Serbia, was fuming when his player Jeison Murillo was shown a red card.
His protests appeared to enrage the Roma Ultras, who targetted 44-year-old Stankovic with racist abuse from the terraces concerning his heritage.
This prompted a furious Mourinho to leap out of his dugout, and wave his hand at his own fans begging them to stop the abuse.
And it appeared to do the trick as the Portuguese gaffer gave the thumbs up.
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Stankovic was heartened by ex-Chelsea and Man Utd boss Mourinho’s actions, and beat his chest as a sign of respect to his opposite number.
Speaking after the game, Stankovic told Football Italia: “I thank Jose, because I didn’t even notice, but as for the chants, I am proud of who I am. I am proud to be a gypsy.”
And Mourinho, 60, added: “I did it for a great man and a great friend. He has kids and a family.
“Our fans are great but my friends aren’t being touched.”
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Stankovic played under Mourinho at Inter Milan, and was part of the side that won the Champions League, Serie A title and Coppa Italia in 2009-10.
As for the game, Romas eased to an eventual 3-0 win with goals from former Liverpool star Georginio Wijnaldum, Paulo Dybala and Stephan El Shaarawy.
That moved Roma into fifth spot in the table and level on points with Inter in fourth as both fight for that final Champions League spot.
Sampdoria face a very different battle – against relegation – as they sit in 19th position.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
