Jose Mourinho unleashed one of his boldest interviews to date as he accused Turkish officials of being ‘worse than he thought’.
The former Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham manager has been in charge of Fenerbahce since the summer, and in true ‘Special One’ style, has already made numerous headlines.
Now, he has gone on arguably one of his most outlandish rants yet, stating the officials’ decision making in his side’s 3-2 win over Trabzonspor ‘smelt bad’.
Starting his tirade that lasted EIGHT minutes, he said: “Today, the man of the match was [VAR referee] Atilla Karaoglan. We didn’t see him, but he was the referee of the match. The referee was just a little boy who was there on the pitch, but the referee was Atilla Karaoglan.
“He went from the invisible man to the most important man of the match. I speak on behalf of all Fenerbahce fans. We don’t want him again. We don’t want him because it smells bad. We don’t want him. We don’t want him on the pitch, but on the VAR even less.”
Mourinho appeared to go on to suggest Turkish football had an issue with corruption.
“I know what I was told, even before I came,” he said. “I didn’t believe. It’s even worse than I was told. But I prefer to be on this side. It’s more difficult. It’s more difficult because we play against good opponents like Trabzonspor is: good opponent with lots of good players and a historical coach.
“But we play against a system. And to play against a system is the most difficult thing. Tonight we play against a good team, against a strong atmosphere, against VAR, and against a system. So very hard.”
Despite clearly feeling aggrieved after the game, the Portuguese manager had been in fine spirits on the pitch at the full-time whistle.
Footage shows him failing spectacularly at a knee slide as he celebrated, with the moment going viral on social media.
The 61-year-old explained his celebrations were in part due to that his views on the officials.
And his club caught a stray in the process.
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“That’s why we celebrated this victory so much,” he said. “It’s unbelievable to win this match against so many powerful people. We are not going to give up. We know what we have.
“I blame the Fenerbahce people that brought me here! They told me only half of the truth. They didn’t tell me the whole truth, because if they told me the whole truth I wouldn’t come! But with half of the truth, with my boys we fight the opponent, we fight the system.”
Mourinho’s rant didn’t end there, as he went on to call for Turkish football fans to take a stand, stating the system will ‘punish him’ and try to ‘close his mouth’.
He continued: “He [Karaoglan] was alert to give the two penalties that the referee didn’t give, and then he was having Turkish tea when it was a clear penalty for us and he didn’t give it.
“So either he was sleeping, or he was drinking his tea and he didn’t see it. So let’s have a laugh, because if we take it too seriously….
“In the end, I’m working in Turkey. It’s not my country. I care because it’s my job and I care because it’s my club. But I think you Turkish, you should care about it!
“You Turkish, you should speak, not me. You should denounce. You should say what is going on, year after year. You should do it, not me.
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“Because I will be the one under attack, the one the system will criticise. The system will try to punish me, the system will try to close my mouth.”
At the end of last month, Mourinho suggested he wanted to manage a bottom side Premier League club after claiming he didn’t want to compete in UEFA competitions – but he soon backtracked.
He was also taken out by one of his players in training last week, with him having to limp off.
So, for anyone out there who thought Jose would get more subdued with age – think again.
Fenerbahce’s win moved them into second place in the Turkish Süper Lig, behind bitter rivals Galatasaray, who are five points clear.
