'I'm the opposite of racist', says under-fire Mourinho

"They (Galatasaray) were not clever in the way they attacked me, because they didn't know my past," former Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United coach Mourinho 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 had been taken out of context and that he was suing Galatasaray for 1,907,000 Turkish lira ($A83,000) due to "the attack on the personal rights" of their Portuguese coach.

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

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

Former Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba and ex-Ghana midfielder Michael Essien, who both played under Mourinho at Chelsea, came out in defence of the Portuguese.

"I've seen the recent comments about Jose Mourinho. 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," Drogba, who also played for Galatasaray, said.

"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 for what it said were "derogatory and offensive statements towards the Turkish referees" and accusations of chaos and disorder in Turkish football.

The ban and fine were later reduced to two matches and 558,500 Turkish lira after Fenerbahce appealed.