Mourinho one step away from the Champions League

Crazy, crazier – Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce! Tonight, the line was razor-thin between one of the greatest coaches of the 21st century potentially getting sacked and his team’s mad efforts to pull off a win in the toughest tie of the third qualifying round and book a place in the Champions League play-off. Disaster loomed for the Istanbul giants when Feyenoord’s Korean-Japanese link came to life—Hwang In-beom set up Tsuyoshi Watanabe for 1–0 and 3–1 on aggregate—but Mourinho’s army found the strength to turn the match upside down, wrestle it back into their hands, and eventually go through with a huge 5–2 win (2–1 at halftime), 6–4 on aggregate.

Mourinho’s skin was saved by newcomer Archie Brown, John Duran, Fred, and later Youssef En-Nesyri and Talisca—though the truth is, the entire Fenerbahce side went above and beyond to prevent Feyenoord from plunging the ‘Canaries’ into mourning. The biggest psychological boost came from Brown and Duran scoring immediately after Watanabe had shocked Istanbul, allowing Fenerbahce to level the tie before halftime. Fred’s wonder goal at the start of the second half completely anesthetized the Rotterdam side. Still, the match had far more drama than just a list of scorers.

In the 29th minute, Mourinho stole the spotlight when he energetically celebrated a goal from En-Nesyri. The “Special One” celebrated without caring that Istvan Kovacs had signaled for a possible offside. He waved his arms and riled up the crowd—only for VAR to silence him. Mourinho couldn’t believe it, though he surely knew what he was doing: trying to pressure the referee and the opponent. But it didn’t work. And to make matters worse, Fenerbahce was soon punished after a mind-boggling mistake from goalkeeper İrfan Egribayat. In the 39th minute, with Fenerbahce attacking, Ayase Ueda handled the ball—but Kovacs gave no signal. The hosts still had possession, but Egribayat picked up the ball with his hands and tossed it to a teammate to take a free kick, prompting the Romanian referee to award Feyenoord a free kick instead. From that play, Hwang assisted Watanabe, and the visitors took the lead. What went through the Turkish keeper’s mind is anyone’s guess.

Fortunately for him, Archie Brown and John Duran struck in quick succession—right before and during stoppage time at the end of the first half—filling the home side with energy for a relentless attacking push that paid off handsomely. Just 10 minutes into the second half, Fred’s spectacular goal made it 3–1 and put Fenerbahçe in full control. En-Nesyri added another in the 83rd minute after combining with Duran. But this being Turkey, the tension wasn’t over. When it seemed Fenerbahçe would comfortably advance, Watanabe struck again out of nowhere in the 89th minute, putting Feyenoord just one goal away from extra time. To make it worse for the hosts, Kovacs signaled six minutes of added time.

Mourinho, of course, defended the lead with every trick in the book, ceding possession to the visitors, who came close to forcing extra time through Goncalo Borges. But fate sided with Fenerbahçe—and Talisca made sure of it in deep stoppage time, sealing the win in a true goal-fest that surely delighted many bettors. Fenerbahce are now in a solid position to return to the Champions League group stage for the first time in 16 years—but to do so, they’ll have to win their final qualifying tie against the winner of Benfica – Nice tie.