JOSÉ MOURINHO narrowly avoided humiliation in his first match in charge of Fenerbahçe.
The Portuguese coach took charge of the Turkish giants for the first time in the Champions League qualifiers against Lugano.
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Fenerbahçe fell behind in the match after just four minutes to the Swiss, at the Stockhorn Arena.
Defender Ayman El Wafi put the hosts ahead, raising fears of an embarrassing exit for Mourinho’s men.
However, former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko saved the day by scoring the equalizer before half-time from the penalty spot.
The Bosnian then scored the second goal of the game in the first minute of the second half.
But then concerns rose again when Uran Bislimi equalized for Lugano in the 64th minute.
Mourinho will then have been relieved as Dezko and Ferdi Kadiolu gave his team a two-goal lead before the final 20 minutes.
Milton Valenzuela scored in the 94th minute and made the game end 4-3.
Dzeko finished the game with a hat trick as he began his 22nd season as a professional footballer.
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The tie is not yet decided, as Fenerbahce still needs to welcome the Swiss team at home.
The second leg will be played on July 30th at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium.
If Fenerbahçe qualify with a positive result, they will still need to go through the third qualifying round and the play-off stage before guaranteeing a place in the Champions League stage.
Mourinho joined Fenerbahçe in June after being out of work since being fired from Roma in January.
He has reportedly signed a contract that will last until 2026, with the option of another season.
Former Prem star at Fenerbahçe
JOSÉ MOURINHO will have a host of familiar faces in his dressing room when he takes charge of Fenerbahçe.
There are no fewer than SIX players in the Turkish giants’ squad who have played in the Premier League.
They are:
- EDIN DZEKO The Fenerbahçe captain was at Man City from 2011 to 2016, scoring 72 goals in 189 games, including the dramatic equalizer before Sergio Aguero’s winner against QPR
- MICHY BATSHUAYI The Belgian striker arrived with much fanfare at Chelsea in 2016, but five loans in six years, two of them to Crystal Palace, showed that it didn’t work out very well.
- Fred Man Utd spent £52m on the Brazilian midfielder who formed one half of the disappointing ‘McFred’ partnership and won only the League Cup in five years at Old Trafford
- DUSAN TADIC The Serbian striker spent four seasons at Southampton before returning to the Eredivisie with Ajax, reaching the Champions League semi-finals.
- RYAN KENT Technically, he didn’t play in the Premier League, but he made one FA Cup appearance for boyhood club Liverpool and then left for Rangers in 2019.
- CENGIZ UNDER A disappointing season on loan at Leicester in 2020-21 from Roma, scoring two goals in 19 appearances for the Foxes, who did not activate their option to buy the Turkish winger.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
