Jose Mourinho admits he is ashamed of the racially-motivated incident which involved Chelsea fans abusing a black passenger on the Paris Metro.
Footage from Tuesday showed Souleymane S, a 33-year-old born in Paris, twice being shoved back on to the platform at Richelieu-Drouot station before a group of Chelsea fans chant: 'We're racist, we're racist and that's the way we like it.'
Speaking during his pre-match press conference, Mourinho said: 'We feel ashamed, I refuse to be connected with these people.
'I am connected with Chelsea, I am connected with so many good things. I left Chelsea in 2007 and I could not wait for the moment to come back. It is not because of people like this that I came back.
'I felt ashamed when I knew what had happened.
'This is not Chelsea FC, we would show Souleymayne we are different. Chelsea is the owner, the board, the manager, the people who work here, they are the true people who support Chelsea. I do not know the gentleman but I would support him coming.'
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck also met Lord Ouseley on Friday to reaffirm the club’s commitment to fighting discrimination and racism.
Before Mourinho faced any questions from the media, Chelsea press officer Steve Atkins spoke on behalf of the club and owner Roman Abramovich.
He said: 'I would like to make it clear on behalf of everyone at the club our disgust at the incident on Tuesday.
'We were appalled by what we saw and the club would also like to apologise unreservedly to Soulemayne for the behaviour of the small number of individuals. We have operated fully and we will continue to do so.
When asked if the shameful incident had affected his players, Mourinho added: 'We have 12-14 players with African connections and over the years this dressing room, I am sure this dressing room has always been a dressing room with big principles of equality.
'We have everything, not just about race, but religion and everything so the dressing room reacted the same way: with disappointment, obviously condemning the situation and supporting the gentleman involved but always with the feeling that we are ashamed but maybe we should not be because we do not belong to these people.
'Since minute one after the incident, Chelsea has done everything because zero tolerance must be shown. Apart from that we still have to believe we are a great club and we have no space for these people.'
Speaking earlier on Friday morning, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger also branded the group of Chelsea supporters 'pathetic'.
He said: 'It looked pathetic and dreadful, it seems we always have a recurrence of this problem. We have to be severe in the punishment.'
'It's a society problem. More intelligent people than myself think about that and nobody has found a miraculous solution, it certainly starts from childhood education and an open-minded attitude.
Source:Dailymail.
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