Jose Mourinho gives brutal one-word assessment of Fenerbahce’s defeat to Rangers

Jose Mourinho only needs a single word for media gold.

The 2010 European treble winner had to witness his Fenerbahce side get completely outplayed by Rangers in a 3-1 Europa League defeat, and summed things up succinctly post-match.

Speaking after the home tie, the Portuguese was asked what went wrong, and honestly answered: “Everything.”

He then continued: “The result is good for us, I know that [Jack] Butland had two or three fantastic saves but I would say that the result was closer to being bigger than smaller, so for us it’s a good result.”

Mourinho was then questioned whether his players underestimated Rangers’ European form and responded: “If they did, I didn’t. 

“If they didn’t it’s not my fault, because I prepared the game as always, I spoke a lot, we saw a lot, we didn’t have much time to prepare the match but we did our normal job.

“The fact that they played five in the back, more defensive with a low block counter-attack is something in European football that happens many, many times, especially with teams that play away. 

“We spoke about it, we spoke that it would be possible that they would do that. They put the low block, everybody behind to counter-attack; they deserved the result.”

Fully aware he’ll need a much better performance back in Scotland, Mourinho then added: “Let’s see, but for me it’s not over, I know that it’s 3-1 so we are losing when the game starts, but it’s not over.”

Rangers, who were thought to be in disarray after sacking Philippe Clement and losing 2-1 to Motherwell, were dominant from the off in Turkey.

Cyriel Dessers opened the scoring inside eight minutes, and although Alexander Djiku equalised on the half-hour mark, it was all one-way traffic after that.

Vaclav Cerny scored once before the break and again in the 81st minute, but Fenerbahce twice had to rely on VAR to cancel out two more goals from the visitors.

Rangers also had to deal with a lengthy disruption in the first-half when Butland headbutted his own player, Robin Propper.

The defender was down on the turf for four minutes receiving treatment, but it didn’t deter Barry Ferguson’s side, who were runners-up in the competition in 2022.