Jose Mourinho says he needs to adapt to Turkish football after Fenerbahce chaotic draw – ‘I am the foreign one’ – Eurosport

Jose Mourinho dubbed himself “the foreign one” after seeing his Fenerbahce side slip to a chaotic 2-2 draw.

The Portuguese manager famously introduced himself as the ‘Special One’ when he joined Chelsea in 2004, but has endured a tough start to life in the Turkish Super Lig.

Club president Ali Koc was confronted by a pitch invader after Saturday’s draw in Izmir, and Mourinho said he was powerless to change the country’s football culture.

“It looks like it’s for me to adapt and not vice versa. I am the one that arrived, I am the foreign one.

“I’m not going to change the state of things. I need to adapt… I am not a magician, I am experienced.”

Fenerbahce have fallen short in each of the last three Super Lig seasons, finishing runners-up to Trabzonspor and twice to Galatasaray.

After less than three seasons at Roma in which he reached back-to-back European finals, Mourinho was sacked by the Italian club and was without work until June.

The former Chelsea boss is tasked with ending Fenerbahce’s decade-long title drought, but has already suffered a brace of disappointments at the hands of Lille and Goztepe.

Despite playing against 10 men for the closing stages of their Champions League third qualifying round, Jonathan David’s penalty eliminated Mourinho’s charges in the 118th minute.

And a last-gasp goal was their undoing against Goztepe too, with Romulo Cardoso striking in the 95th minute to rescue a point.

The 61-year-old urged his players to be “smart” in order to “kill the game” before the home fans had the chance to get behind their team.

“Too naive or too poetic, in a league that is not poetic,” Mourinho said post-match.

“We have to take advantage of the opportunities to kill the game. The players have to think about that.

“But I told my players that if we concede a goal, the support of the fans will be behind [the opponent], and the game will be much more difficult. In the second half it happened as I said, there was incredible support from the fans.

“In some countries, it is called anti-football. In some countries, they call it being smart. We have to be like them.”