RAGING Jose Mourinho accused the officials of denying his Fenerbahce side THREE penalties as they crashed out of Europe to Rangers.
The Portuguese boss, booked during the game, also branded the referee ‘arrogant.’
Jose Mourinho was booked by the referee[/caption]
It was a frustrating night for Mourinho[/caption]
He blasted the officials after the game[/caption]
Fenerbahce trailed 3-1 to Rangers after last week’s first leg in Istanbul.
But a Sebastian Szymanski double dramatically wiped out the Light Blues’ advantage in their Europa League last 16 clash.
It went to extra time and then to penalties, where Jack Butland was the Rangers hero.
The Ibrox No1 saved two spot-kicks before Hakan Yandas blazed over as the Gers progressed.
After the game, Mourinho couldn’t hide his anger towards the officials.
He felt that his side had been denied THREE penalties during the 120 minutes.
Mourinho didn’t specifically identify the incidents in question.
There was an incident in the first half when Talisca was booked for simulation after going down under a Jefte challenge.
It did look like there was contact, albeit outside the box.
Another incident saw Yandas go down with Nicolas Raskin in close contact.
Referee Espen Eskas waved away the penalty claims much to Fenerbahce’s fury.
Replays showed there was some contact but once again VAR didn’t intervene.
Yellow cards flowed, including one for Mourinho.
Speaking after the game, Mourinho insisted his side were the better team.
And he claimed that it was ONLY because of the officiating that the game went all the way to penalties.
Mourinho told TNT Sports: “We were the best team by far. Not by close. By far.
“We deserved to win over 90 minutes, we deserved to win after 120 minutes. We were the best team by far.
“In the first match I was honest and I had enough fair play to say we made mistakes, we deserved to lose. We lost.
“But in this match I have to be honest and say the best team by far.
“We did everything to win, we deserved to win.
“The referee and the VAR, they decided that we should go to penalties because three penalties during the 120 minutes.
“Then on the penalties, we miss three and Rangers go through. Congratulations to them. I think my team deserves everything from me, from our supporters, from Turkey as a country.”
The fourth official Rohit Saggi had plenty to deal with on the touchline, with a number of Fener coaching staff shown yellow cards.
Mourinho absolved Saggi of any blame, but took the opportunity to brand referee Eskas ARROGANT.
He continued: “The fourth official was a nice guy, he was not arrogant like the referee. He was a nice guy.
“He was trying to do his job, he was not making decisions. He was trying to put our bench calm, I was the only one calm. The ones in front of the laptops, for them it’s difficult to control.
“In relation to me, the only thing that I hope is that everything that happen to my team in European competitions is not a consequence of the Budapest final.
“I hope it’s just random.”
Mourinho was banned by Uefa for four matches following his Roma side’s Europa League Final defeat to Roma in May 2023.
That was put down to ‘abusive language’ towards referee Anthony Taylor.
And he appeared to allege some kind of AGENDA against him.
The former Chelsea and Man Utd boss went on to call out VAR Pol van Boekel as he continued to air his frustrations.
Mourinho added: “We come here and the VAR is considered one of the best VARs, some guy from Holland, van Boekel.
“He didn’t see one of three penalties. I just hope it’s random.
“I got that suspension, I paid for that suspension. I hope this is just bad luck.”
Referee Espen Eskas was in charge at Ibrox[/caption]
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