While two days ago, Fenerbahçe Beko fans celebrated winning the Euroleague Basketball Championship for the second time in their history, the club’s football team, led by Portuguese coach José Mourinho, continues to disappoint and suffer disasters after being knocked out of the Turkish Cup and losing the league to Galatasaray, highlighting the growing disconnect between the Portuguese coach and his fans, who welcomed him with open arms a year ago but are now calling for his resignation.
For last night’s match at the Mersin Arena, which closed the penultimate league round of the 2024-2025 season, Mourinho had his best players available but inexplicably opted to put third-choice goalkeeper Ertuğrul Çetin between the sticks. Whether it was to give Livaković a rest or simply because he was overconfident in a meaningless match between Fenerbahçe and Atakaş Hatayspor, who is second from bottom and has been mathematically relegated time ago, this was one of the Portuguese coach’s worst decisions, turning the match into one of the worst of the season.
In the 7th minute, Edin Džeko scored for Fenerbahçe, but the goal was ruled out by the assistant referee for offside. It was in these opening minutes that the pressure from the Istanbul team was most noticeable, as they took advantage of their theoretical superiority to launch repeated attacks on the opposition’s goal, culminating in the 27th minute when Amrabat stole the ball near the goal and, after an initial shot was saved by the goalkeeper, his compatriot En-Nesyri finished off to make it 0-1 on the scoreboard.
It was nothing more than a mirage: a mere prelude to the absolute disaster that would unfold just 10 minutes later and completely humiliate one of the great teams of the Turkish football league. In the 38th minute, Mert Müldür was shown a straight red card for bringing down Nigerian striker Jonathan Okoronkwo as he was through on goal with only Ertuğrul Çetin to beat. It was a controversial decision, but despite Müldür’s protests, the referee stood by his decision and the Yellow Canaries were reduced to ten men.
The prelude to disaster
Six minutes later, during a direct shot from a free kick, the ball hit the post and rebounded off Çetin’s body, crossing the goal line and thus scoring an own goal. It was a stroke of bad luck, but more was to come, and it came at the worst possible moment, with Fenerbahçe down on their luck due to a lack of motivation and the heat and, on top of that, playing with one player less.
After the break, Mourinho’s men came out in the opening minutes trying to prove their superiority once again, but there was Bilal Boutobba to take advantage of a monumental error by Çetin in controlling the ball, which the French-Algerian stole from the rookie Fenerbahçe goalkeeper like a child stealing candy to score Hatayspor’s second goal: 2-1 (53rd minute). Çetin’s blows against the ground were the spitting image of the desperation of a goalkeeper who was in over his head… And the nightmare had only just begun.
The worst night for a goalkeeper
Fenerbahçe kept trying, but they were no longer in control of the game, and Bekaj, the Hatay goalkeeper, had a great night with some memorable saves. In the 62nd minute, the referee awarded a penalty for a foul by Milan Škriniar on Cemali Sertel, which was converted by the German footballer of Turkish origin Görkem Sağlam, making it 3-1. The fourth goal came just four minutes later, when Okoronkwo, in a solo run, fired a powerful right-footed shot that Çetin was unable to save.
The consolation goal for Fenerbahçe came in stoppage time, when İrfan Kahveci, who had come on after Hatayspor’s third goal to replace En-Nesyri, scored the Istanbul side’s second after a pass from Talisca. Kahveci himself had previously scored another goal in the 77th minute, but it was ruled out by VAR for offside.
There were no celebrations: just long faces and lost looks: it was a goal that only served to gloss over an indefensible and humiliating result against a much inferior team, which leaves the morale of Fenerbahçe’s players and fans in tatters and the future of Mourinho even more in doubt, if that is possible. The hashtag #MourinhoIstifa (‘Mourinho resign’) is trending today in Turkey… Time will tell.
Results of the 37th round of the Super League
İKAS EYÜPSPOR 2 – 1 ONVO ANTALYASPOR
GAZİANTEP FUTBOL KULÜBÜ A.Ş. 2 – 2 KASIMPAŞA A.Ş.
GÖZTEPE A.Ş. 0 – 2 GALATASARAY A.Ş.
RAMS BAŞAKŞEHİR FUTBOL KULÜBÜ 2 – 3 ADANA DEMİRSPOR A.Ş.
BEŞİKTAŞ A.Ş. 1 – 2 ÇAYKUR RİZESPOR A.Ş.
TÜMOSAN KONYASPOR 1 – 2 CORENDON ALANYASPOR
TRABZONSPOR A.Ş. 2 – 2 REEDER SAMSUNSPOR
BELLONA KAYSERİSPOR 1 – 1 SİPAY BODRUM FK
ATAKAŞ HATAYSPOR 4 – 2 FENERBAHÇE A.Ş.
Turkish league: standings
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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