Fenerbahçe wins Mourinho’s first offical game
THUN
Edin Dzeko showed his class as Fenerbahçe came out the 4-3 winner in a Champions League second qualifying round first leg at Swiss side Lugano on July 23 night in coach Jose Mourinho’s first official game in charge.
Ayman El Wafi gave the host an early lead, but Dzeko got the Turkish giant in front with two goals either side of half-time.
Uran Bislimi got Lugano back on level terms, but Dzeko completed his hat-trick before a Ferdi Kadıoğlu goal made it 4-2 with 17 minutes remaining.
However, Lugano did not give in and Milton Valenzuela made Mourinho sweat with what proved to be a late consolation in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Fenerbahçe will now take its slender lead back to Istanbul on July 30 for the second leg.
"We finished the first leg with a win and we will play our second game in Istanbul,” Portuguese coach Mourinho said after making a winning start to his helm at the Turkish club.
“With the strong support of our fans and with them pushing us, our goal is to go there with a win and make it to the next round,” he added.
Mourinho also complained about the synthetic grass pitch at Lugano’s Stockhorn Arena.
"I didn't want to talk about it before the match because we didn't want it to be seen as creating an excuse,” he said.
“It was difficult to play a match on a plastic, synthetic pitch. The players struggled a lot. They struggled with dribbling, they struggled with the flow of the ball, so it was difficult to adapt. I didn't want to talk about it before the game, but I can say it was a difficult situation. It is unacceptable to play on this pitch, on this ground. I think it is unacceptable to play a Champions League match on a pitch like this.”
