Jose Mourinho remained frustrated after Fenerbahce's Europa League exit to Rangers on penalties and hit an 'arrogant' referee and Var -Official in the aftermath.
The Turkish side had 2-0 in the night after a brace by Sebastian Szymanski within the first 90 minutes at Ibrox, before he was defeated in a shootout when the former Premier League stars Dusan Tadic and Fred were refused by Jack Butland. But Mourinho was irritated not to have won with a larger margin after his team had been denied three penalties for 120 minutes of action.
The former manager of Real Madrid and Chelsea was adamant that his team was the better side and justified to continue. Mourinho firmly placed the debt to the officials for the exit of his team.
“Best team on the field, by far. Not by far close,” he said after the game. “We earned it after 90 minutes, we deserved to win after 120 minutes. We were by far the best team.
“In the first game I was honest and I had enough fair play to say that we made mistakes, we deserve to lose, we have lost. But in this game I also have to be honest and say that we were by far the best team. We did everything to win, the referee and VAR decided that we had to go to punishments because three punishments had to go for 120 minutes.
“Then on the penalties we miss three and rangers, congratulations on them. I think my team deserves everything from me, from our supporters, even from Turkey as a country because we were the last club that Turkey represented in European competitions. Of course I am sad, especially for my boys, because it was a dream for them to go anymore.”
Mourinho and his couch cut animated figures during the collision, because they did not feel they rewarded what they deserved. The Portuguese boss suggested that he was the only one who could keep his calmness in the midst of an 'arrogant' official, despite picking up a yellow card.
“The fourth officer was a nice guy, he was not arrogant like the referee,” said Mourinho. “He was a nice guy and tried to do his work. He did not make decisions, he tried to calm our couch. I was the only calm, because everyone, especially for the laptops, is difficult to control for them.
“Due to me, the only thing I hope is that everything my team happens in the European competition since the first day this season is not a result of the final of the Budapest, I hope it is just random.”
Mourinho was then asked if the latter was a real concern. The 62-year-old was banned by UEFA four games after following Anthony Taylor to the Stadion parking park after the Europa League final in 2023 when his Roma side was defeated by Sevilla and called referee Anthony Taylor a 'shame.
“Yes, because since that final, since my suspension after the final of Budapest, these things that happen to us,” he said. “We did not play a Champions League because of a penalty in minute 120 that only saw the VAR against Lille, we did not win against Manchester United with a penalty that everyone saw.
“Today we come here and the VAR is considered one of the best, a man from Holland, Van Boekel, he saw none of the three penalties. I just hope it is random. I got the suspension, I paid for the suspension and I hope it is over and this is good luck.”
Rangers will now be confronted with Athletic Bilbao while joining Manchester United and Tottenham with the last eight of the competition. They will organize the La Liga side in the first leg before they left for the second.
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