Jose Mourinho has admitted Cyriel Dessers looked like the "best player in the world" against Fenerbahce.
The experienced manager heaped praise on the Rangers striker who bagged the opener in the 3-1 win for Rangers in the Europa League round of 16 first leg.
However, Mourinho was just as quick to step back from his comment as he clarified Dessers was majorly benefited by the performance of his defenders in the loss.
"Dessers is a good player," said Mourinho. "But today he looked like the best player in the world, but he is not."
Dessers scored his first just minutes into the match as he rounded the goalkeeper before squeezing a shot over the line. Goal-line technology was required as the ball was centimetres over the line before being hooked clear.
The striker then had two goals disallowed in the second half for narrow offside calls.
Mourinho also praised Jack Butland for his display in the Europa League contest as he branded three saves as "fantastic".
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The Fenerbahce boss said: "I know that Butland makes three fantastic saves.
"I know that there is, I think, a penalty, but to speak about the referee after this performance, I don’t think it's ethical.
"Our performance was bad overall. The chances we had to score, we didn't. The dynamic in midfield was not good. We lost lots of duels. Our passing was not fast.
"Defensively, we made incredible mistakes."
"They deserve the result," he added.
"But, for me, it's not over. I know it's 3-1, so we are losing 3-1 when the game starts [next week], but it's not over."
