Jose Mourinho rips into his Fenerbahce players after Rangers ‘punishment’ in Europa League

Jose Mourinho rips into his Fenerbahce players after Rangers ‘punishment’ in Europa League

Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho didn’t beat around the bush when criticising his team for their performance at home to Rangers on Thursday.

 

Mourinho’s team had recorded an impressive 5-2 aggregate victory over Anderlecht in their Europa League knockout play-off to set up a meeting with the Scottish side, with a 3-0 win at home settling them on their way. Home advantage was no use in the round of 16, though, with Vaclav Cerny scoring twice as the visitors came out on top.

Speaking after the defeat, Mourinho had the opportunity to point the finger. And this time it was his own players who found themselves on the receiving end.

There is, I think, a penalty but to speak about referees after this performance I don’t think is ethical,” Mourinho said. “Our performance was bad overall.

 

“Defensively we made incredible mistakes. They defend a lot with a very low block and then dangerous counters and we had no pace to follow that. I have to say that we deserved a punishment of this result. If someone wants to ask me if it’s over, no, I don’t think it’s over.”

Mourinho also refused to blame Rangers’ change of set-up, with Barry Ferguson opting for a back five in Istanbul. “We spoke about it, we spoke that it would be possible that they would do that,” he told TNT Sports. “They put a low block, all the lines together, everybody behind, counter-attack – they deserved the result.”