[ad_1]
Jose Mourinho’s hopes of leading Fenerbahce into the revamped Champions League ended Tuesday when the Turkish team were knocked out in the third qualifying round by Lille.
Lille advanced as the 3-2 winners after two legs as Canada striker Jonathan David converted a penalty in the 118th minute to secure a 1-1 draw after extra time.
Fenerbahce scored in the first minute of second-half stoppage time through Bafodé Diakité’s own-goal to go 1-0 ahead in the second leg in Istanbul and take the match to extra time. Lille won the first leg 2-1.
Mourinho was hired in June on an $11 million annual salary to try to win Fenerbahce’s first Turkish league title since 2014. He was attempting to get his new team into the revamped 36-team league stage of the Champions League, which he won with Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan in 2010.
Fenerbahce, who secured a 1-0 win against Adana Demispor in their Turkish Super Lig opener on Saturday, will now drop into the second-tier Europa League.
Mourinho guided former club Roma to the final of the Europa League in 2022-23, losing to Sevilla on penalties.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
