Jose Mourinho raised eyebrows on social media by taking a swipe at Allan Saint-Maximin after the on-loan winger shared a cryptic Instagram post ahead of Fenerbahce’s trip to Rangers
Allan Saint-Maximin and Jose Mourinho have exchanged comments on social media with the latter seemingly accusing the former Newcastle man of being overweight.
Saint-Maximin was left out of the Fenerbahce squad to face Rangers in their do-or-die Europa League Round of 16 clash, with the Turkish outfit trailing 3-1 from the first leg.
The winger, on loan from Al Ahli, has missed Fenerbahce’s last five league matches and posted on Instagram seemingly in response to being omitted from the squad. He wrote: “It will take more than this to defeat me…
“When a lie takes the elevator, the truth takes the stairs. It takes longer but it always arrives in the end. If God is with us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31.”
But his post seemed to irk Mourinho, who wasted little time in sending a message of his own. And the former Chelsea, Manchester United and AS Roma boss appeared to call out Saint-Maximin’s attitude in training in his comment, which quickly went viral.
The Special One said: “I didn’t know Saint-Maximin was talented in poetry. I’m not bad in that regard either. When a football player works well, works hard, trains every day, he is fit and can climb the stairs. He doesn’t need an elevator. However, if a player doesn’t train well, arrives late, is overweight, is not ready to play, he needs an elevator to go up. Because he gets tired quickly on the stairs.”
Unsurprisingly, Mourinho’s message prompted a response from Saint Maximin, who shared an image showing both his current and previous weight.
“Lies produce flowers but not fruit,” he said in response to his coach.
Speaking ahead of Thursday night’s pivotal match, Mourinho expressed his confidence over Fenerbahce’s chances of overhauling Rangers’ two-goal advantage.
He said: “I’m not hurt. Rangers are not a better team than us, and I think we have a chance of qualifying. It’s not that I’m hurt or that I want revenge or that we have to go and show we are better. It’s nothing about that. It’s just the fact I honestly think we are better.
“But we deserved to lose because we made mistakes and they capitalised on our mistakes. They were motivated, they were fighting together, they deserved to win. So there are no bad feelings, there is no frustration, there is nothing. We are so committed with our league, we have such an important match on Sunday that if I felt we had no chance, we would prepare for Sunday.
“But I’m not preparing for Sunday, I’m preparing for this game, because I think honestly we have a chance. So as long as we have a chance, let’s go.”
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