Jose Mourinho found a novel way to land himself in hot water with the authorities during Fenerbahce’s 2-0 win over Antalyaspor on Sunday night.
No stranger to controversy over the course of his colourful career, the former Chelsea and Manchester United manager could be forgiven for taking his foot off the pedal now he is, at the age of 61, coaching on one of Europe’s less high-profile leagues.
Not a bit of it, however! Mourinho was left seething when Edin Dzeko’s goal was ruled out for offside, a decision that was upheld by the VAR.
Mourinho’s side were already leading at that stage thanks to a strike from Dusan Tadic, but was left raging by the perceived injustice.
Acting in typically impulsive and mischievous fashion, Mourinho grabbed a nearby laptop and placed it in front of a television camera while it was displaying imagerythat he claimed proved he had been wronged.
‘For us, it’s a good goal,’ Mourinho said after what was, ultimately, a convincing win away from home in the Turkish Super Lig.
‘I like good VAR… I just want a VAR that helps the referee to take the right decisions.’
Fenerbahce chairman Ali Koc had accused Turkish Super Lig’s video assistant referees of bias against his club last April, with the league deciding to hire foreign VARs for the rest of the 2023-24 season.
It is not the first time Mourinho has courted controversy at Fenerbahce since his appointment in the summer.
After a disappointing defeat against arch rivals Galatasaray, Mourinho stormed out of the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium and refused to attend his post match press conference.
The passion to succeed still clearly burns within him, however, and he recently revealed the extent to which he is working in order to bring success back to one of Turkey’s most illustrious clubs.
He said: ‘I won trophies at every club I went to, only I didn’t win at Tottenham because I left the club two days before the Cup final.
‘So the Mourinho effect that I created at every club was to win trophies. I’m very sorry. We can’t do that in September. This game had two sides to it: One was the Europa League and the other was the difficulty of the first game after a heavy defeat.
‘After that game, it was a week in which there was a bit of pleasure in knocking people down. I am not an expert in body language or a judge in a dance competition. I know the emotional side of football well.
‘Journalists have an effect on the way fans think, the way business is done has something to do with it. Maybe it is you who need to change, you work too much. I don’t know how many hours he works, but I work at least 12 hours a day.
‘I sleep at the club so I don’t waste time. Istanbul is a beautiful city, but I didn’t come here on holiday, I came to work. Everyone in the club does this, we have a good working environment.
‘I always try to instil and explain this to people: I can be successful from time to time, but when things go well you don’t go to the moon, and when things go bad you don’t go to hell.’