Fenerbahce's new head coach, Jose Mourinho in his latest interview has reacted to the exit of Portugal from the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament.
Fenerbahce boss Jose Mourinho expressed his disappointment with Portugal's performance at the Euro 2024, as the team reached the quarter-finals of the tournament against France crashing out via a penalty shootout.
Despite being one of the favourites to win in Germany, the star-studded Portuguese team fell short. Mourinho had hoped for a repeat of Fernando Santos' 2016 success, when Portugal won the trophy in France.
This time, Portugal's journey was cut short by France, who defeated them in a penalty shootout. In what will likely be his last European Championship, Ronaldo made headlines without scoring a goal, leaving his international future at 39 uncertain.
Mourinho commented: "There is always frustration when you feel that you could do better. The team’s potential was extremely high. I wasn’t far off the mark when I said that Portugal, France, and England were the favourites. Two of them are in the semi-finals. Spain is the biggest surprise for me, in the way the team has evolved; they are practically a new team."
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He continued, "For me, at the moment, they are the team that plays the best and the one that has played the best throughout the tournament. Portugal wasn’t fantastic, despite reaching the quarter-finals. We expected more. I was at the National Stadium for the Portugal-Croatia friendly match and it didn’t smell good. I didn’t get a great feeling. During the tournament, we were making progress, but we weren’t convincing. Often, when the moment of truth comes, these teams are stronger. This wasn’t the end for Portugal; there wasn’t any improvement in the team. But it’s a young team, apart from the two veterans [Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe], a team with years ahead of them. The World Cup is just around the corner," he added.
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