Jose Mourinho hits out at ‘arrogant’ referee over Fenerbahce loss to Rangers

Jose Mourinho has labelled referee Espen Eskas as “arrogant” after his Fenerbahce side were denied three penalty appeals during the second leg of their Europa League tie against Rangers.

The Turkish outfit lost in a penalty shoot-out to the Scottish side despite winning 2-0 on the night in a fiery affair at Ibrox, leaving Mourinho upset after elimination.

Mourinho then criticised the officials, including Eskas, while bemoaning the VAR for not overruling the referee.

“We were the best team by far,” Mourinho told TNT Sports. “In the first match I was honest, I had enough fair play we made mistakes and deserved to lose, but in this match I have to be honest, the best team by far, we did everything to win.

“The referee and the VAR decided we should go to penalties, three penalties in 120 minutes... On the penalties, we missed three [appeals] and Rangers go through, but I think my team deserves everything from me, my supporters and Turkey as a country, as the last Turkish team in the competition. I’m sad, it was a dream to go through to try and reach the final.

“The fourth official was a nice guy, not arrogant like the referee, trying to do his job. He kept our bench calm, I was the only one calm, especially the ones in front of the laptop, it’s difficult to control. I hope that everything that happened to my team from day one [this season], is not a consequence from the Budapest final.”

Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho during the Uefa Europa League (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

Mourinho then referenced his situation since the 2023 Europa League final defeat to Sevilla while in charge of Roma, which saw him use abusive language towards English referee Anthony Taylor.

The former Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham manager followed Taylor to the stadium car park and called him “a disgrace,” eventually leading to a four-game ban by Uefa.

Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho (left) is shown a yellow card by referee Espen Eskas (Steve Welsh/PA Wire)

“Since that final, since my suspension after the Budapest final, the things that happen to us, we didn’t play Champions League after a penalty on minute 120 that only VAR saw against Lille, we didn’t beat Manchester United with a penalty everyone saw,” Mourinho added.

“Today we come here and one of the best VARs, he didn’t see one of three penalties, I hope it’s random. I got a suspension, I hope it’s over, I hope it’s bad luck.”

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