Fenerbahçe Coach Mourinho Analyzes Bilbao’s Strengths Ahead of Europa League Clash

Fenerbahçe will host Athletic Bilbao tomorrow at Ülker Stadium in the UEFA Europa League. Head coach Jose Mourinho shared his thoughts in a pre-match press conference, expressing their determination to win.

“It Will Be a Very Tough Match”

Jose Mourinho acknowledged the difficulty of the upcoming match against Athletic Bilbao:

“It will be a very tough match. We’ve had a challenging schedule in Europe. Everyone prefers to face easier opponents at home, but we’ve had it tough. We’ll be playing against a strong team that recently defeated Real Madrid. Their goal is to finish at the top, and since the final will be played at their home stadium, they’ll be extra motivated. We are also facing challenges: Fred is suspended, and there are players we couldn’t include in the squad. Still, we want to progress to the next round. The Lyon game will also be very tough, but we don’t want to leave our fate to the last matches. That’s why it’s crucial for us to get something out of these two home games.”

Mourinho dismissed any concerns about motivation:
“Motivation is the easy part. Tomorrow, we’ll be playing against a very good team, which naturally brings its own motivation. After losing, we always want to play and win the next match as soon as possible. That’s why we don’t have any problems with motivation. Today, we had a great tactical training session with everyone involved. Tactically, everything is very clear.”

Analyzing Athletic Bilbao, Mourinho praised their consistency:
“I don’t think Bilbao is a team full of surprises. They are consistent, their players are the same, and they continue to execute their strategies well. Their defense and offense are very clear. During a meeting with my players, I told them, ‘Bilbao is not complicated to analyze, but playing against them is.’ It’s going to be a tough match, but not one full of surprises.”

Responding to Guardiola

Jose Mourinho addressed comments made by Pep Guardiola regarding financial fairness in football:

“Pep Guardiola likes me, and I like him too. I don’t want to see them relegated. I want justice! When small teams exceed their financial limits by just 5-10 euros, they face penalties. I experienced this issue at Roma. I don’t think it’s fair that the big clubs escape such consequences. All I want is justice—there’s no bad blood.”

Çağlar Söyüncü to Return

Jose Mourinho also delivered good news for Fenerbahçe fans regarding Çağlar Söyüncü:

“I won’t discuss what we need to do or our tactics. We’ve kept our training sessions private and completed our tactical preparations. Bilbao’s wingers are very dangerous! Their players coming from the back are aggressive in entering the penalty area. You’ve analyzed them well, but I can’t share our strategy. We have a limited squad, but Çağlar Söyüncü will be on the bench. He needs time to fully recover, but he’s getting there. Slavia Prague is a strong team, and we fought hard to win against them. I believe we can achieve a good result against Bilbao too.”

“We’d Win 8 Out of 10 Against Beşiktaş”

Mourinho reflected on the recent defeat against Beşiktaş but remained confident:

“We are currently in a challenging situation. Fred is suspended, we have players we couldn’t register, and some are just returning from injury. It will be a tough match, but it won’t be easy for Bilbao either. Anything is possible. I believe we have a higher chance of winning. If we played Beşiktaş 10 times, we’d win 8, they’d win once, and one match would end in a draw. That night was amazing for Beşiktaş, but not for us. It didn’t hurt our confidence because we played better. It did affect our happiness, but not our unity. If we had scored the first goal, we would’ve comfortably won the match.

“We need to move on and stay professional. After the Beşiktaş match, I stayed at Samandıra and immediately began analyzing Bilbao. There’s no time to waste crying. Before the Beşiktaş match, we had won 5-6 games in a row, and I told my team to stay calm. I’m saying the same now. We will smile again—hopefully, very soon.”