Jose Mourinho had few complaints at full-time as Fenerbahce suffered a shock 3-1 home defeat to Rangers in the first-leg of their Europa League last-16 tie in Istanbul.
OK, the former Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea boss was not exactly enamoured with Jack Butland’s time-wasting tactics – those proposed rule changes limiting a goalkeeper to only eight seconds with the ball in his hands can’t come soon enough, Mourinho will feel – but there was no real hint of bitterness in an honest and open post-match press conference.
Rangers were good value in Fenerbahce as they marched to a commanding win away from home. Cyriel Dessers opened the score early – his 22nd of a prolific season – while a Vaclav Cerny brace put Barry Ferguson’s tie in charge of the tie after Alexander Djiku had levelled the scores on the half-hour mark.
Mourinho paid tribute to Jack Butland’s ‘fantastic’ display between the sticks.
The former England international jetted into Istanbul under major pressure after another high-profile blunder in the 2-1 defeat by Motherwell on Saturday. This was more like it, however, with Butland rolling back the years on the continental stage.
At the other end of the pitch, Dessers led the line superbly. Only a pair of tight VAR calls denied the Nigerian a famous European hat-trick. Cerny, meanwhile, now has 17 goals for the season.
Lining up in more of a striker role as Ferguson deployed a tailored 3-5-2 formation, the interim boss’s changes worked like a dream.
Jose Mourinho highlights Cyriel Dessers and Vaclav Cerny role in Rangers win
Mourinho felt that Ferguson’s appointment would benefit Rangers over the two legs.
The Ibrox legend was supposed to bring the standards and a winning mentality back to Ibrox. But, on a night in which a man with Clyde, Kelty Hearts and Alloa Athletic on his CV outfoxed the two-time Champions League winner, do not downplay Ferguson’s influence from a tactical standpoint.
“He brought five, defenders, three midfielders, and two guys in attack on the counter-attack,” Mourinho explains. “On the counter-attack, they were dangerous [with Cerny and Dessers]. Every time, Cerny was attacking spaces in behind our defenders.
“I don’t know how many centre-metres the two goals they scored were offside but they were always [running] in the spaces in behind. They were pragmatic, they were defensive, they were attacking the spaces in behind.
“They were competitive and they deserved the victory.”
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Say what you want about Dessers – if you think Liverpool frontman Darwin Nunez is difficult to work out, just watch Rangers number nine in action – the £4.5 million acquisition from Cremonese will always run himself into the ground.
Cerny, meanwhile, brings a silky smooth sense of star quality. Only three goals shy of joining Dessers in the 20-plus club, this is already the most prolific campaign of the Wolfsburg loanee’s career.
“We were very bad everywhere. I think it’s not fair to say we were very bad in defence, because we were very bad everywhere,” Mourinho adds, his hopes of a sixth European title in the balance.
“Maybe you laugh but, for me it was a good result, because the way we performed the result could be bigger than this [had Dessers’ two offside goals stood].
“I know that Jack Butland made three fantastic saves. The chances we had to score we didn’t. The dynamic in midfield was not good. Defensively, we made incredible mistakes. We never controlled that.
“They defended a lot with the block very low, a good and dangerous counter-attack. So we deserve the punishment of this result.”
