Jose Mourinho has been accused of making a “big mistake” after appearing to blame Vinicius Jr’s celebration for an alleged racial insult.

Vinicius Jr scored in the 50th minute to give Madrid the lead and celebrated by dancing in front of the corner flag, prompting Benfica fans to voice their anger but the match took a turn for the worse when Gianluca Prestianni allegedly called the Madrid player a “monkey” as the two teams were preparing to kick off.

It prompted the racism protocol but with Prestianni covering his face with his shirt, there was little referee Francois Letexier could do about it.

After the match, Mourinho, in his typical style, sought to defend his own team and player but went too far by suggesting it was the actions of Vinicius that caused it.

“It should be the crazy moment of the game, an amazing goal,” the 63-year-old said. “These talents are able to do these beautiful things, but unfortunately not just happy to score astonishing goal. When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way.”

“I believe so [that Vinicius Jr incited the crowd]. Then the words that they exchange, Gianluca Prestianni with Vinicius, I want to be independent. I saw two completely different things. I want to be independent, and I don’t comment about it.

“I told him [Vinicius Jr] exactly that. I told him, ‘when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back.’ When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person [Eusebio] in the history of this club was black. This club, the last thing that it is, is racist.

“If in his mind there was something in relation to that, this is Benfica. They [Vinicius Jr and Prestianni] told me different things. But I don’t believe in one or another. I want to be independent.”

But Mourinho’s viewpoint was criticised by plenty of ex-players, not least Clarence Seedorf who described the Portuguese boss’ words as a “big mistake”.

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“I think he is still emotional,” the former Milan and Madrid midfielder said on Amazon Prime. “I think he made a big mistake today to justify racial abuse.

“He’s saying it’s OK, when Vinicius provokes you, to be racist – and I think that is very wrong. We should never, ever justify racial abuse. Vinicius has had enough of that unjustified behaviour from people. I know Mourinho by heart would agree with me but he expressed himself a bit unfortunately, I believe.”

Wayne Rooney joined Seedorf on the punditry team and said his former boss’ comments were “very unfair” while Theo Walcott said it was not the time for Mourinho to speak.

On the CBS broadcast, Jamie Carragher accused Mourinho of being a “hypocrite”, pointing to the overexuberant celebrations the manager had done in the past.

“Anyone can celebrate however they want, and Vinicius shouldn’t suffer racial abuse,” he said. “It seems a bit hypocritical coming from Mourinho, a man who has celebrated and possibly antagonised opponents more than any other coach in the past.

“Do you remember him running down the sideline at Old Trafford? I remember Mourinho, in a cup final against Liverpool, when Chelsea scored a late goal, telling the Liverpool fans to shut up.

“How many times has he put his hands to his ears at opponents? So, it’s a bit hypocritical of him to criticise Vinicius. It was a great goal, in a Champions League game, he has every right to celebrate however he wants.”

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