Jose Mourinho sends backhanded Rangers praise to star as he issues miffed verdict amid 'incredible mistakes'

Jose Mourinho has issued a backhanded piece of praise to a Rangers player after his Fenerbahce side crumbled against the Light Blues.

The Ibrox side continued to show their mettle in the Europa League with a stunning 3-1 success over the Turkish giants. Cyriel Dessers was inspiring to the win as he netted and had other strikes ruled out for marginal offsides as Rangers’ only regret was they could have won by more.

It sets them up nicely for the return leg at Ibrox next week which they have a whole week to prepare for. Mourinho is famed for his press conferences turning fiery and had back-handed remarks for one Rangers player.

Mourinho’s less than flattering Rangers verdict

He talked up Dessers as the greatest player in the world after what he did to his Fenerbahce defence before the instant rebuttal that he clearly isn’t that amid unbelievable errors. Mourinho told the Rangers Review: "Dessers is a good player. But today he looked like the best player in the world, but he is not.

“I know that Butland makes three fantastic saves. I know that there is, I think, a penalty, but to speak about the referee after this performance, I don’t think it's ethical. Our performance was bad overall. The chances we had to score, we didn't. The dynamic in midfield was not good. We lost lots of duels. Our passing was not fast.

"Defensively, we made incredible mistakes. They deserve the result. But, for me, it's not over. I know it's 3-1, so we are losing 3-1 when the game starts [next week], but it's not over."

Ferguson’s view

Interim Rangers boss Barry Ferguson meanwhile was quick to praise his players for the way they went about their business away from home. He told Rangers TV: “I am big on character, if you want to play at a club like Rangers you need to get results like this every time you play.

“I know that is not going to happen all of the time, but if you have a wee bump you need to react in the right manner. I thought to a man tonight, even the guys that came off the bench, you have to give them credit. Even the boys on the bench kept supporting. It is important to me there is a real togetherness, and they certainly showed that on the pitch.

“It was a great result and a great performance, but we also know that it is only half-time in the tie. We'll come back in, and we'll refocus for the game next Thursday. They have got a top manager, and I expect Fenerbahce to be a different team next week. It is always important to get off to a good start and I think that is what we did, we spoke about it before the game, when you come to places like this it is intimidating at times but I also said go and enjoy these kinds of atmospheres this is what playing football is all about.

“They obviously got the equaliser, we didn't let our heads go down which is important and then I thought we finished the first-half strong. In the second-half I thought again we created a number of chances, obviously we had the two goals disallowed but it is easy again to feel sorry for yourself but one thing about the boys now they are starting to learn they can’t be that way at Rangers.”