Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany spent much of his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's Bundesliga game at home to Eintracht Frankfurt lamenting how football is dealing with racism.
Following the alleged racist incident towards Real Madrid's Vinícius Júnior in midweek, one of the game's most prominent black coaches used an almost 12-minute speech to criticize Benfica coach José Mourinho for a failure of leadership in the row.
Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni denies allegations of racism.
"If it is true that the Benfica player said it, I would wish there was room for an apology. Nobody in the world is perfect. But we deprive ourselves of that option. There is always only left and right, black and white," Kompany, a 39-year-old Belgian with Congolese roots, said on Friday.
"When you see the incident, Vini Júnior's reaction cannot be faked. It is an emotional reaction. And I see no benefit for him in going to the referee and taking all the misery on his shoulders. But he does it because he feels it is the right thing at that moment."
Kompany noted that the Brazil forward is "at least in a position where he has a voice to protest."
The Bayern boss, who has himself experienced racist hostility as a player and as a coach, spoke plainly about counterpart Mourinho.
The Portuguese "attacked the character of Vinícius Júnior by pointing to his goal celebration. For me that is a glaring error in leadership. José Mourinho mentions the name Eusébio to say that Benfica could not be racist because the best player in Benfica's history was a black man.
"I am not judging José Mourinho as a person, but he made a mistake. And I hope this will not happen in the future," Kompany said.