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

Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce were beaten at home by Rangers in the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 match and the Portuguese coach didn’t hold back afterward

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.

Cyriel Dessers and Alexander Djiku had exchanged first-half goals before Cerny’s double made it 3-1, leaving Fenerbahce with a mountain to climb at Ibrox. Rangers lost just one of their four home matches in the league phase, though that 4-1 win for Lyon in October might give Fener some hope.

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.”

Can Fenerbahce turn things around at Ibrox? Have your say in the comments section

The match at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium was Rangers’ first in Europe under interim boss Ferguson. However, the 47-year-old – who replaced Philippe Clement in February – stopped short of suggesting he “outfoxed” his opposite number.

“We went a way that I thought would get us a result and we only spent an hour on it,” Ferguson said. “They took the information on and delivered a performance to be proud of.

“You can feel sorry for yourselves when you get a couple of goals disallowed but we went on and got the third goal. Ibrox has been a bit of a problem, but we’ll enjoy tonight and then try to fix that problem.”

If Rangers are able to preserve their lead next week, they will face either Roma or Athletic Bilbao in the quarter-finals. Roma claimed a narrow 2-1 victory in their first leg at the Stadio Olimpico, with Eldor Shomurodov scoring a last-gasp winner.

Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read ourPrivacy Notice.