Rangers stun Fenerbahce as Jose Mourinho’s long unbeaten run ends

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First Türkiye win in 50 years 

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It was a famous night for Rangers in Istanbul as they stunned Fenerbahce to win 3-1 in the first leg of their Europa League last 16 tie. Jose Mourinho’s men were in outstanding form, unbeaten in their last 18 games and were heavy favourites to emerge victorious on home soil. Conversely, Rangers are in the midst of a turbulent period in their history with Philippe Clement sacked two weeks ago after a humiliating defeat to Queen’s Park in the Scottish Cup and the Ibrox club miles behind rivals Celtic in the league. 

Former club captain Barry Ferguson was installed as interim manager until the end of the season and the 47-year-old pulled off a stunning result in his first ever European game as a manager against one of the greatest coaches in recent history.

The odds were firmly stacked in the Turkish giants’ favour with their market value of €242 million over €150m higher than Rangers (€75m). Moreover, Mourinho’s record in European competition is renowned with the Portuguese boss winning the Champions League twice, Europa League, UEFA Cup and the UEFA Conference League. While they’ve struggled domestically this season, Rangers have impressed in Europe and secured a top eight place in the league phase despite difficult fixtures against Manchester United and Tottenham. They pulled off impressive away wins against Malmo and Nice in the league phase but defeating Fenerbahce comfortably surpasses those results.

But the legendary Portuguese boss was humbled on home soil with Vaclav Cerny inspiring Rangers to their first win in Turkey in 50 years. Cyriel Dessers opened the scoring for the visitors before Alexander Dijku equalised on the half-hour but Dessers set-up Cerny to re-establish Rangers’ lead just before half-time. Dessers had two goals ruled out for offside in the second half but Wolfsburg loanee Cerny sealed the win with a third on 81 minutes. The 27-year-old’s eight goal contributions in the Europa League is the joint-highest this season, alongside Lyon’s Rayan Cherki.