Jose Mourinho has eviscerated his Fenerbahce side after they were dumped 3-1 by Rangers in the Europa League.
The legendary Portuguese manager saw a spirited Rangers side give Fenerbahce a bloody nose in the first leg of the Round of 16 clash.
Rangers ran out 3-1 winners in Turkey courtesy of a disciplined display which Barry Ferguson’s team could’ve won by a larger margin but for VAR.
Jose Mourinho slaughters Fenerbahce v Rangers
Jose Mourinho has since addressed a post-match press conference and reckons the 3-1 defeat was actually a good result for his team.
This is because Rangers could’ve won by a sizeably larger margin such was Fenerbahce’s lacklustre performance in the Europa League clash.
Mourinho, who can be famously cantankerous, slaughtered the Fenerbahce team and insists they deserve everything Rangers gave them.
That’s despite the fact Barry Ferguson also caught Mourinho off-guard by changing formation for the clash in Istanbul.
“It’s not fair to say we were very bad in defence,” said Jose at full-time. “Because we were very bad everywhere.
”Maybe you laugh but for me it was a good result because the way we performed the result could be bigger than this one.
”Our performance was bad overall. The chances we had to score we didn’t. The dynamic in midfield was not good. We lost lots of duels. Our passing was not fast.
”Defensively we made incredible mistakes. We never controlled depth. They defended a lot with a block very low then dangerous counter attack. We had no pace to follow them.
”So for me I have to say that we deserve the punishment of this result.
Jose Mourinho hails ‘fantastic’ Jack Butland
Jose Mourinho also took the time to single out one Rangers player following the clash with Fenerbahce.
Jack Butland might’ve wiped Robin Propper out in the opening stages of the match but the goalkeeper recovered to put in a top class showing in Turkey.
Saving a number of low shots to keep Rangers’ two-goal margin intact, a stunning save from Anderson Talisca summed up what was a top display.
Mourinho also took the chance to suggest Fenerbahce should’ve had a penalty in the match, although he didn’t specify which incident he was referring to.
”I know that Butland makes three fantastic saves,” said Mourinho.
“I know that there is I think a penalty, but to speak about the referee after this performance I don’t think is ethical.”
Mourinho then went on to discuss the absence of Brazilian midfielder Fred, who was not available for Fenerbahce against Rangers due to suspension.
The midfielder will be back in the Fenerbahce squad for the trip to Ibrox and Jose Mourinho insists that the tie is anything but over.
”To speak about Fred is something that I don’t like by my nature but the team was playing fantastic with him in that position there,” said Mourinho.
”Then if somebody later wants to ask me do I think it’s over, no, I don’t think it’s over. I think there is 90 or 120 minutes to play.”
