Mourinho urges silence after Mbappé's Mao remark sparks backlash ahead of Racing Santander game

Jose Mourinho said "often the best thing you can do is keep your mouth shut" on Saturday at a pre-match news conference ahead of Sunday's La Liga game at Racing Santander when asked about the angry reaction to Kylian Mbappé's comments concerning China's late leader Mao Zedong.

Mbappé, who has scored 11 league goals for Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid side this season, made the remarks during an episode of French talk show The Bridge while discussing his nickname; the 27-year-old said the meme that made him "laugh the most" was "a video of a guy, I think it's a Chinese dictator..." before the show switched to footage of a meme showing Mbappé's face superimposed on an image resembling Mao, who died in 1976.

A clip of the exchange generated backlash in China and worldwide and prompted a number of Chinese brands to drop Mbappé. On Tuesday the Real forward issued a statement apologising for his "ill-judged" comments, saying: "I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world."

Asked about the incident, Mourinho warned of the risks of modern communication, saying: "Those are the dangers of today's world where often the best thing you can do is keep your mouth shut, because there's danger in so many things you say or comment on." He added that the context of how comments are received can create problems.

Mourinho praised Mbappé's response, saying he had "act[ed] very responsibly toward a club that, at this level, is truly first-class" and that the player showed "true class" by apologising quickly. "And as far as we're concerned, that's it. There's nothing else for us to do," the Real Madrid head coach said.

When asked whether he was concerned about being misrepresented by fake video clips produced using artificial intelligence, Mourinho replied: "I don't worry." He added, "My club is Real Madrid, and my player is Kylian Mbappé." Mourinho also said: "Both Real Madrid and Kylian Mbappé have shown the class to react immediately, and I feel very well represented by both of them."

Mourinho, who won La Liga in 2011-12 during his first spell in charge of Real, will take his squad to Racing Santander for the La Liga match on Sunday, the fixture that framed his comments.