Jose Mourinho mocked the “incredible” explanation of the referee after he was shown a red card during his Fenerbahce side’s 1-1 Europa League draw against former club Manchester United on Thursday.
Mourinho was shown the red card just before the hour mark amid a heated dispute with the referee, which seemingly included some colourful language, after Fenerbahce were denied an appeal for a penalty.
After initially saying he didn’t want to speak about the non-penalty, Mourinho ridiculed the referee’s account of the incident.
“He told us something incredible,” Mourinho told TNT Sports. “He told that at the same time he could see the action in the box and my behavior on the touchline.
“I congratulate him because he is absolutely incredible, his peripheral vision. During the game, 100 mph, he had one eye on the penalty situation, and he had one eye on the bench and my behaviour. So that’s the explanation he gave me. That’s why he’s one of the best referees in the world.”
Mourinho was previously given a four-game European ban for abusing the referee when his Roma side lost in the Europa League final to Sevilla in May 2023. And he cited that incident as a reason he wouldn’t be appealing his red card on Thursday.
“If I appeal, I will get six months,” Mourinho said later during his news conference. “Since the Sevilla-Roma final there is nothing to do.”
Mourinho even quipped that he would take a job in the future with a club not in European competition.
“The best thing I have to do is when I leave Fenerbahce, I go to a club that doesn’t play in UEFA competition,” he said. “So, if any club in England from the bottom of the table needs a coach in two years, I’m ready to go.”
Man United led early from Christian Eriksen‘s 15th-minute goal only to see Youssef En-Nesyri equalize in the 49th, heading home unmarked from close range on a cross from Allan Saint-Maximin.
The result keeps Fenerbahce unbeaten with five points from three games, but Mourinho said he believed his team should have gotten more from the game.
“It would be fair to say that we did an extraordinary match and we were better than them, so good result for Man United,” he said to TNT Sports.
“My boys played an amazing match,” he added. “We played against a team that is at a superior level to us. We finished the game with a centre-back playing at right-back and a right-back at left-back. We had to do a crazy puzzle, but our performance was extraordinary, and I couldn’t ask for anything more from the players.”
Mourinho led United to win the Europa League in 2017 during his 2½ years at Old Trafford. He took the Fenerbahce job this past offseason.
Information from Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
