12 hours ago
5
There was always the sense that, despite the two-goal advantage Rangers had amassed in Istanbul, the second leg of this tie would not pass quietly. It finally ended with Barry Ferguson’s players bouncing up and down in front of the Copland Road stand while José Mourinho, who had worn a face as ashen as his all-grey outfit as Fenerbahce fluffed their lines from the spot, led his to perform mea culpas 100 metres away. The night had swung in multiple directions but, over their week’s work, Rangers deserved their shot at toppling Athletic Bilbao in the last eight.
Mourinho could only watch as Fenerbahce, having levelled the tie up and brought on the cavalry, failed to put Rangers away in the final 50 minutes. He would surely have expected more from Dusan Tadic and Fred, both of whom saw Jack Butland make tremendous saves, in the shoot-out; when Mert Hakan Yandas spooned the final penalty over it was party time for the home support, a miss from Ianis Hagi amongst it all rendered entirely irrelevant.
Rangers, full of willing and energy but lacking the quality that would eliminate drama, can take credit for maintaining a threat even while wobbling terribly. They had Fenerbahce, who had not seemed capable of matching their intensity for most of the first half, where they wanted them until Sebastian Szymanski scored a superb opener before the teams went in. Fenerbahce are patently a team of moments and found another when Szymanski squeezed in their leveller but Rangers were never quite hanging on for dear life.
They did, however, frequently live with hearts in their mouths. That was never more so than the moment when Yandas went down in the box under Nico Raskin’s challenge three minutes from the end of extra time. Fenerbahce screamed blue murder; an apoplectic Mourinho, who had pounded the technical area threadbare all evening, frantically mimed a VAR screen but his only reward was a yellow card and the penalty would soon get worse.
The episode naturally provided ample post-match ammunition. Fenerbahce had seen other spot kick appeals turned down, including a Filip Kostic shout for handball against Ridvan Yilmaz. “If you don’t get three [penalties], you get two,” Mourinho said. “If you don’t get two, you get one. If you don’t get one, it’s strange.” The subsequent rabbit hole of conspiracy included the latest dangling of his Roma side’s Europa League final defeat to Sevilla in 2023, which brought him a four-game ban, as a possible reason for Fenerbahce’s perceived ill treatment.
Regardless, Mourinho was laying it on thickly when he claimed Fenerbahce were the only deserving cause on show. They had started the match slowly, strutting around in comparison to a Rangers side in which Vaclav Cerny was again an indefatigable, bustling force. Cerny, who let pot shots fly all night and worked the keeper Irfan Egribayat more than once, would later convert impressively from the spot. But Szymanski’s hooked volley was a lifeline and Fenerbahce found it in themselves to probe extensively after the interval.
Eventually they equalised when Szymanski converted Mert Müldür’s low centre. Ibrox was a skittish, worried place by that point. Mourinho deployed the cavalry in the forms of Tadic and Edin Dzeko; Rangers were alarmingly loose but survived the rocky road to extra time and it is to Ferguson’s huge credit that they gathered breath for a fresh push thereafter.
“They’re digging deep for me and that’s all I ask of them,” he said of his team afterwards. That was in no doubt, James Tavernier snuffing out a clear chance at one end and forcing a flying stop from Egribayat with a free-kick at the other. Rangers rode their luck in the additional 30 minutes but Fenerbahce lacked the composure to condemn them and the hosts had enough presence of their own to keep play pinging from end to end.
after newsletter promotion
In the end it was Butland’s stature that made their hard work count, his one-handed stop from Fred’s penalty the pick from what will surely be a career highlight for the 32-year-old. “Delighted for him,” Ferguson said. “He’s taken a bit of flak, I think unfairly at times, and he’s shown his qualities tonight.”
Perhaps somebody had to after a melee of an affair that brought 11 yellow cards even before Mourinho received his censure. “I prefer to be knocked out this way,” Mourinho said, rattling out the parting shots before leaving in a flash of silver. For all the agonies that led them here, Rangers evidently enjoyed winning in this fashion too.
