Turkish football giant Fenerbahce faced a 3-1 defeat against Dutch club THE Alkmaar on Thursday in their fourth game in the league phase of UEFA Europa League, marking their first loss of the season in the competition.
The game, held at AZ Stadium, saw Fenerbahce put up a strong defensive performance in the first half, effectively neutralizing Alkmaar’s attacks but missing key opportunities to score, particularly through striker Edin Dzeko. However, a strong second half performance by the Dutch side saw three goals past the Yellow Canaries’ defense and put extra pressure on Fenerbahce’s head coach Jose Mourinho.
‘Fenerbahce hopeless’ under Jose Mourinho
“Fenerbahce looked hopeless” in the game against AZ Alkmaar, Gurgan Bilgic, a Turkish sports commentator, said after the match.
Bilgic said that the game served as a valuable lesson for Mourinho, as he failed to get the best performance out of Fenerbahce’s players so far this season.
Mourinho, who was shown a red card in the previous Europa League match against Manchester United for his objections toward the referee, was in the stands on Thursday serving his one-match suspension from UEFA.
Galatasaray head coach responds to Jose Mourinho
Galatasaray head coach Okan Buruk targeted Mourinho’s heavy criticism of the Turkish Super Lig in his remarks following his team’s victory over Tottenham on Thursday.
Mourinho had said, “Why would anybody watch Turkish football when it is like this,” after Fenerbahce’s derby win over Trabzonspor on Sunday. “Considering the insults directed at Turkish football, we have shown everyone the true quality of our game,” Buruk stated as his team emerged 3-2 victorious from an end-to-end game against Tottenham.
The remarks are sure to fuel the bitter rivalry between Fenerbahce and Galatasaray even more as both teams vie for the Turkish Süper Lig title. Galatasaray currently sits at the top of the league table with 28 points while Fenerbahce is following closely behind at third with 23.
Mourinho banned in Super Lig as well
Mourinho’s antics weren’t limited to Europe; they also landed him in trouble in the Turkish Süper Lig.
Following his touchline manners during the Trabzonspor game and his post-match comments targeting VAR, referees and Turkish football, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) revealed that the 61-year-old Portuguese manager was banned for one game. TFF also fined the Fenerbahce coach upward of $25,000.
So, Mourinho will be missing from Fenerbahce’s dugout for a second game in a row this week on Sunday as Fenerbahce takes on Sivasspor at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium.
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