LONDON: Jose Mourinho has described himself, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and the club's players as being "disgusted" and "ashamed" of the racist incident that took place at a Paris Metro station on Tuesday night.
Chelsea have suspended a further two men, taking the total to five, with the promise of lifetime bans from Stamford Bridge after a passenger, named as Souleymane S, was pushed from a train while a racist song was chanted ahead of the Champions League game against Paris St-Germain.
A Chelsea spokesman revealed the club are writing to Souleymane to apologise for the actions of the men and to invite him to the return leg at Stamford Bridge on March 11.
The Chelsea chairman, Bruce Buck, met Kick It Out chairman Lord Ouseley yesterday to explain the club's reaction to the situation.
"We feel ashamed, but maybe we shouldn't," said Mourinho, the Chelsea manager. "I refuse to be connected with these people. I am connected with Chelsea and so many good things the club defends and represents.
"I was aware of the incident on the same night I arrived home. I watched the image the next day. I didn't want to watch it again, I watched it only once. It is enough for me, it is sad enough for me.
"It is a humiliation for that gentleman. I imagine myself in the same situation, I want to go home after a day of work and a couple of guys they kick me out of my public transport and I cannot go home. It is difficult to believe this can happen in modern times, but the reality is that it happens.
"I've had squads at Chelsea where it was 12 or 14 players with African nationality or African connection. All through those years, this dressing room, even without me here, I am sure this dressing room was always a dressing room with big principles of equality. We had everything, absolutely everything, not just race but also religion. Everything.
"The dressing room reacted the same as me, with disappointment, obviously condemning the situation and supporting the gentleman involved. Always with feeling that we feel ashamed, but we shouldn't because we are not this, these people don't belong to us.
"So yes, we condemn and Chelsea since minute one are doing absolutely everything, zero tolerance completely. We have to feel our club is a great club and has no space for these kind of people."
There have been suggestions that the racist chanting on the metro train was in relation to Chelsea captain John Terry, who was banned and fined by the Football Association in 2012 for using racist language towards former Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand.
Chelsea reject any attempts to justify the song and Mourinho said: "The only thing I know, and I know 100 per cent for sure, is that John Terry is not one single second of his life a racist. That I can assure you. For sure, he had a bad episode. But I can assure you [that he is not racist] and you ask every player that shared a dressing room at Chelsea with John, and for so many years we are speaking about dozens and dozens of players. I can assure they will tell you the same. That John is not a racist."
Mourinho insisted that he and his players would do everything they could to underline the fact that racism is not tolerated at Chelsea, but warned the incident in Paris would not be the last to be connected to football.
"All of the players, if they were here, would repeat my words with great feeling," said Mourinho. "The players had immediately the same feeling. They felt disappointed. The players, Chelsea fans, imagine the Chelsea owner, at the top, everybody feels disappointed. Disgusted.
"But, unfortunately, we will not be the last episode, emphatically. It will not be the last, but we have to deal with it as if it is the last. In relation to people who have some connection with our club, if you can call it that, everybody has to know that the club is ready to finish it. No more."
Chelsea fans have started a campaign for Souleymane to be invited to Stamford Bridge and Steve Atkins, the club's head of communications, said: "We are writing to Souleymane from the club and the board, and inviting him to the return leg against PSG. We are writing to apologise and to invite him and his family to come to the game to be guests. We hope he will take up this offer."
Mourinho added: "I think he would watch not the game, he would feel what Chelsea is. At this moment, he has maybe the wrong idea of what Chelsea FC is. I don't know if the gentleman loves football, but for sure he would love to feel that the miserable people that had this action with him is not Chelsea FC, this is not Chelsea. They are not Chelsea.
"I think even if he doesn't like football, you put him in the directors' box, people know that he's there and people will give him a reaction that will make him realise that Chelsea is completely the opposite of what happened to him in the underground station."