Jose Mourinho has launched one of his more remarkable tirades to date as the Fenerbahce manager called the referee a “little boy” and sarcastically congratulated the Video Assistant Referee on transforming from "the invisible man to the man of the match."
Fenerbache scored in the 102nd minute to beat Trabzonspor after their opponents were awarded two penalties in the second half to level the score. Mourinho was then incensed to see a tackle on Bright Osayi-Samuel not prompt a red card, suggesting that Atilla Karaoglan, the VAR, was too busy drinking coffee.
Sofyan Ambrabat scored in the 12th minute of injury time to earn a 3-2 win, prompting wild celebrations on the touchline from Mourinho, who attempted a knee slide on the pitch only to tumble over onto his front.
Speaking after the game, Mourinho said: "The referee was just a little boy that was there on the pitch but the referee was Atilla Karaoglan, so man of the match. He goes from the invisible man to the man of the match.
"I speak on behalf on every Fenerbahce fan: we don’t want him again. We don’t want him because he smells bad. Smells bad. We don’t want him as VAR. 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, and if he had known the full extent of perceived challenges then he wouldn't have agreed to become Fener manager.
"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 and my boys, we fight opponents and the system."
“I know what I was told, even before I came," he added. "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.”
Mourinho continued in his tirade in his post-match press conference, claming he first started watching Turkish football when he was asked to become Fener manager and quickly decided the league "stinks".
"I didn’t watch Turkish football matches before I arrived, because nobody wants to watch it. Who outside of Turkey wants to watch this? There’s the Premier League, the French league, the German league, the Portuguese league, the Dutch league. Why would anyone watch this?" he said, adding:
"I started watching it when I was invited to Turkey. And that was out of necessity, to get to know my future players. My focus wasn’t on the matches but on understanding them. I got to know some other big Turkish clubs, but I couldn’t believe what I saw. It’s too dark. It stinks."
Mourinho finished by saying that he would post highlights of the match on his Instagram account, allowing five million people who otherwise wouldn't watch the game see what the league offers.
He said: "As I said, many abroad do not follow the Turkish league. I think my son is the only one watching it in London. Nobody else. That’s why I posted a video on Instagram, which has, I believe, more than five million followers. So everyone can see what the Turkish league is like," he concluded.
