All eyes were on Ten Hag & Man Utd – but Mourinho steals show again

Not for the first time in his long and storied career, Jose Mourinho left the scene of a major game with the conversation all about him.

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag may still be under pressure after his side’s 1-1 Europa League draw with Fenerbahce in Istanbul.

United goalkeeper Andre Onana may have made a sensational first-half double save to deny eventual Fenerbahce goalscorer Youssef En-Nesyri.

And Manuel Ugarte’s block to prevent the Moroccan firing into an empty net soon after might just have been equally as good.

But all of this is a side issue compared to what happened around Mourinho, who ended the game sat on a step in the stand behind the home dugout, passing instructions to his coaching staff as he tried to engineer a winner.

Endless touchline antics, a second-half sending off and some box office post-match interviews. This was trademark Mourinho.

“I quite enjoyed watching Jose,” said former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes on TNT. “It looked like there’s a bit of enthusiasm back with him.

“It looked like he was enjoying himself, he was laughing to himself, he was having a giggle. I enjoyed watching him.”

But that was not the end of the matter. Not by a long way.

Mourinho’s next move? ‘A club at the bottom in England’

European governing body Uefa are bound to be in touch – which is where we probably should start.

In 2023, Mourinho was given a four-match touchline ban for his behaviour around the Europa League final when his Roma side were beaten by Sevilla in Budapest. Premier League referee Anthony Taylor was abused in the airport on his way home after footage emerged of Mourinho waiting in an underground car park after the match to question the official about his performance.

So, as he reflected on being red carded by another leading official in French referee Clement Turpin in Istanbul, Mourinho made reference to the previous incident.

“If I appeal I will get six months,” said Mourinho, when asked by an English journalist if he would appeal against his dismissal. “Since the Sevilla-Roma final there is nothing to do. That is why the future is better without European competition, so I don’t get upset.”

This was a follow-up to his first answer, to the man from another broadcaster who he knows exceptionally well, which in itself built on something he said in the lead-up to the game which suggested after spells with Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham, his time in the Premier League may not be over.

“The best thing I have to do is when I leave Fener is that I go to a club that doesn’t play in Uefa competition,” he said. “So a club at the bottom in England who needs a coach in two years, I’m ready to go.

“I don’t want to speak anymore about it. I want to speak about the game.”

Except this is Jose, so speaking about the game comes with loaded answers – including, at one point, suggesting the local media would be unhappy with the outcome of the game because they would have preferred Fenerbahce to lose.

Mourinho’s thoughts on the ref? ‘The best in the world’

But we are drifting away from the point. Because Mourinho had already given another explosive answer to TNT Sports about Turpin’s behaviour.

“The referee told me something incredible,” he said. “He said at the same time he could see the action in the box and my behaviour on the touchline. I congratulate him because he is absolutely incredible.

“During the game, 100 miles per hour, he had one eye on the penalty situation and one eye on my behaviour on the bench.

“That is why he is one of the best referees in the world.”

The interview was textbook Mourinho.

“That [Mourinho’s interview] was better than the game,” said Scholes. “He looks like he’s got the mischievousness back about him. It was good to see that version.”

The incident Mourinho was talking about was a perceived foul by Ugarte on Bright Osayi-Samuel in the second half when the scores were level.

As it turned out, Osayi-Samuel was forced off injured. But Turpin felt there was no foul and VAR agreed, to the utter consternation of the entire Fenerbahce bench, whom Mourinho led in their protests.

Mourinho’s view on Man Utd? ‘They did well’

It contributed to an evening that will go down in the pantheon of great Mourinho press conferences.

Maybe not quite up there with anointing himself as the Special One or the Antonio Conte match-fixing riposte, but a worthy equal of his ‘respect, respect, respect’ effort of late 2018 when he was United boss.

It was around that time Mourinho spoke of United’s ‘football heritage’, their reduced status in the modern game.

In Europe, that status now sees them 21st in the Europa League table, splitting Viktoria Pilzen and Elfsborg. United still have to play the former in one of their five remaining games.

Mourinho had a view about that too.

“I know you [media] will say Man Utd didn’t play well,” he said. “But why didn’t they have shots, why weren’t they good enough? My players deserve credit for that performance.

“They will qualify. The point for them is a positive point. It is difficult to play here. Porto is the same. I think they did well. If they win the next match they have six. A point for them is positive.”