Jose Mourinho was left seething after Fenerbahce's Europa League exit to Rangers on penalties, criticising an 'arrogant' referee and VAR official in the aftermath.
Fenerbahce triumphed 2-0 on the night thanks to a brace from Sebastian Szymanski within the initial 90 minutes at Ibrox, only to be defeated in a penalty shootout as former Premier League stars Dusan Tadic and Fred were thwarted by Jack Butland. However, Mourinho was irked not to have won by a larger margin after his team were denied three penalties across 120 minutes of play.
The ex-Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea boss was insistent that his team were superior and deserved to progress. Mourinho squarely laid the blame on the officials for his team's departure.
"Best team on the pitch, by far. Not by close, by far," he declared post-match. "We deserved to win after 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 deserve to lose, we lost. But in this match I have to also be honest and say we were the best team by far. We did everything to win, the referee and VAR decided we should go to penalties because three penalties during 120 minutes", reports the Mirror.
Mourinho expressed his pride in his team despite their Europa League exit, stating: "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, even from Turkey as a country because we were the last club to represent Turkey in European competitions. Obviously I'm sad, especially for my boys because for them it was a dream to go through and to try and reach the final but I couldn't be more proud of them."
The Roma boss and his coaching staff were visibly frustrated during the game, feeling that their efforts weren't fairly rewarded. Mourinho pointed out the difference in attitude between the match officials, saying: "The fourth official was a nice guy, he was not arrogant like the referee," and "He was a nice guy, trying to do his job. He was not making decisions, he was trying to put our bench calm. I was the only one calm, because everybody, especially the ones in front of the laptops, for them it's difficult to control."
Mourinho also touched on the challenges faced throughout the season in Europe, hoping that their journey wasn't affected by external factors: "In relation to me the only thing that I hope is that everything that happens to my team in European competition since day one this season is not a consequence of the Budapest final, I hope that it's just random."
When asked if the latter was a genuine concern, Mourinho, who was handed a four-match ban by UEFA after following referee Anthony Taylor to the stadium car park post the Europa League final in 2023 where his Roma side were defeated by Sevilla, and labelled Taylor a 'disgrace', responded: "Yes, because since that final, since my suspension after the Budapest final, these things that happen to us," he said. "We didn't play Champions League because of a penalty in minute 120 that only the VAR saw against Lille. We didn't win against Manchester United with a penalty that everyone saw.
"Today we come here and the VAR is considered one of the best, some guy from Holland, Van Boekel, he didn't see one of three penalties. I just hope it's random. I got the suspension, I paid for the suspension and I hope it is over and this is bad luck."
Rangers are set to face Athletic Bilbao next, joining Manchester United and Tottenham in the competition's final eight. The first leg will be hosted by Rangers, before they travel away for the second leg.