It just had to be about him. José Mourinho was shown a red card against Manchester United for protesting when he thought his Fenerbahce side should have been awarded a penalty but still saw them rescue a point thanks to an equaliser from Youssef En-Nesyri after they had fallen behind to Christian Eriksen’s opener.
The result – a third straight draw in this competition – leaves Erik ten Hag’s side sandwiched between Viktoria Plzen and Elfsborg in the playoff positions in the Europa League after the Dutchman had strangely decided to play Noussair Mazraoui in an unusual attacking role. The United manager will point to a vastly improved performance from a team that had conceded 17 goals in their last five away matches in Europe, although it could have been worse had Mourinho’s pleas not fallen on deaf ears. Having lost 3-0 here under Sir Alex Ferguson in 2004, at least United emerged relatively unscathed this time – unlike their former employee.
Written by Ed Aarons at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/oct/24/fenerbahce-manchester-united-europa-league-match-report under the title “Manchester United restricted to a draw by Fenerbahce as Mourinho sent off”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
