Rangers, Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahçe Knocked Out Of 2024-2025 Champions League

Glasgow Rangers and Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahçe have been knocked out of the 2024-2025 UEFA Champions League campaign.

In the first round of the Champions League qualifiers, Rangers faced a tough defeat, exiting the competition after losing 2-0 to Dynamo Kyiv.

The match took an unfortunate turn for Rangers when defender Jefte received a second yellow card, leaving the team with 10 men, and Dynamo Kyiv capitalized on this advantage with two late goals.

Rangers’ coach, Philippe Clement, expressed his disappointment with the referee’s decision and its significant impact on the game, saying, “It’s hard for my team. They don’t deserve this after these two games versus Dynamo Kyiv. One person with one decision made a really big change for us.

“It’s the second time in my career of over 30 years that something unjust has happened. We can only accept it and move forward towards the league and the Europa League.”

Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce also faced disappointment as they were knocked out of the Champions League campaign by Lille.

Despite a late own goal that sent the match to extra time, Lille secured a 3-2 aggregate victory over Fenerbahce, marking a challenging start for Mourinho in charge of the Turkish club.

After the game, Jose Mourinho said: “We can do very well in the Europa League, but if… I prefer not to continue with this sentence. Because if I say it, I will get into trouble.”

He added: “It’s better not to talk about the penalty. When I look at other incidents that have happened to me recently.

“Only the referee knows why it was a penalty, only the VAR knows.

“I’m proud of my team. This [not wasting time] is the referee’s job, he has to respect the game. He has to make the players respect it. I can’t criticize the opposing teams. They also try to get a result.

“If they showed a yellow card in the first 20 minutes, everything would change, but they don’t.”

The following are the results of other Champions League qualification matches: Slavia Prague’s 4-1 aggregate win over Union Saint-Gilloise, Sparta Prague’s 4-3 aggregate victory over FCSB, and Qarabag’s stunning 7-2 win over Ludogorets in Bulgaria.

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