'Phenomenal': Jose Mourinho makes bold Rangers Europa League prediction and makes big penalty claim

Rangers may have defeated his Fenerbahce team in the Europa League, but their manager Jose Mourinho believes the Ibrox side will do well to progress beyond the quarter-finals after an enthralling night at Govan.

Rangers lost 2-0 on the night to level the tie 3-3 on aggregate and force a penalty shoot-out. Home keeper Jack Butland was the hero, saving penalties from Dusan Tadic and Fred as Barry Ferguson's men prevailed to set up a last-eight meeting with Athletic Bilbao, who defeated Roma earlier in the evening.

While Mourinho wanted to be gracious in defeat, he clearly believes Rangers will have to improve significantly to defeat the La Liga giants - with the final due to be played at their home stadium at the end of May.

Jose Mourinho believes his team should have been given a penalty in extra time. | SNS Group

Asked how he rated Rangers' prospects, Mourinho said: "In my opinion... I want to be respectful, you know? I want to respect the guys, I want to respect the coach, I want to respect the fans. In football, anything is possible. In football, anything is possible.

"But I played against Bilbao in the group phase. Bilbao is a strong team. Bilbao is a strong team. And the final is in Bilbao. The road to Bilbao...

"I don't know what happened today with Roma, I just know that after 10 minutes Roma was playing with 10 men. So, honestly, I think if Rangers does it against Bilbao, it would be phenomenal. It would be phenomenal. Because it's going to be very hard."

Mourinho lamented losing on penalties after recovering from a surprise 3-1 defeat in Istanbul last week and said his team deserved a penalty in extra time when Nicolas Raskin put in a challenge on Dusan Tadic, only for their claims to be waved away by referee Espen Eskas.

"We won. Yes. We won tonight," Mourinho continued. "We won 2-0. I think we lost the tie for different reasons. The first reason was because in the first match we were not good. And in the first match we were punished with a result that created a difficult situation for the second match.

"But in the second match we played a fantastic match. Only one team played. Only one team scored. Only one team deserved to score more. Only one team deserved to win after 90 minutes. Only one team deserved to win after 120 minutes. Only one team had three penalties. If you don't get three, you get two. If you don't get two, you get one. If you don't get one out of three, everything is strange. But it's also strange the way we were knocked out of the Champions League.

"With a VAR penalty on minute 120. Then, on the penalty, they scored and we didn't. That is obvious. But especially after my words in the first match, where I had fair play and I was honest, and I think we deserved to lose. In this match, please don't call me no fair play, because this is not about fair play in this game. We were the best team.

"I think everybody in this room, even the ones that support Rangers, I think we all agree that we were the best team.”

Asked if his players wilted in the shoot-out amid a cacophony of boos from the home fans, Mourinho said: "No, I don't think... OK, the atmosphere probably supports the home guys, but I don't think so. It's a question of... It's a question of the moment.

"We trained. We trained three days in a row. We trained penalties three days in a row, which was an optimistic approach, because to think that we could come here and win by two goals difference was an optimistic approach.

Jose Mourinho was booked by the referee for his protestations. | SNS Group

"The players were confident, the players wanted to take, but then, when you miss the first, it immediately creates some more pressure. It is what it is. I don't like to say penalties are just... If you look, for example, at Real Madrid, the penalty that moved their score is a little bit of luck, and the penalty that Alvarez missed, let's say that, is a little bit of luck.

"But, you know, today... They scored, we didn't score, but... To be knocked out... I prefer to be knocked out this way, being the best team, having a great comeback, deserving to win over 90, over 120, and losing on penalties. I know it hurts more, I know that for us to play Sunday is going to be very, very hard, but I prefer to lose this way, because the team morale has to be high, the confidence has to be high. We have now 20 matches, we lost one match in 20.”