Mourinho claims referees wanted to go to penalties: 3 penalties should have been given

Fenerbahce’s head coach, Jose Mourinho, made sharp comments about the referees after his team was eliminated from the Europa League by Rangers in a penalty shootout.

Reflecting on the 2022-23 final, Mourinho criticized the officiating, especially the decisions made by the match officials.

Mourinho stated that at least three penalties should have been awarded to his team. When asked if he had any interaction with the fourth official, he replied, “No, he was polite. He wasn’t arrogant like the referee on the field (Norwegian Espen Ekpaas). He was trying to calm us down. In fact, I was the calmest person on the bench. Those with laptops were losing their minds as they reviewed the situations.”

Mourinho expresses discontent with referee decisions

Mourinho emphasized his team did not deserve to be eliminated.

The referee on the field and the VAR (Dutch Pol van Boekel) decided that the match should go to penalties. We deserved to win in 90 minutes. At the end of 120 minutes, they deserved it because we missed three penalties. I hope this isn’t a result of what happened in the 2022–23 Europa League final. After the penalty I received in Budapest, and what happened in the matches against Lille and Manchester United, the way this match unfolded doesn’t seem normal to me.

Fenerbahce’s head coach, Jose Mourinho