Jose Mourinho wasted little time in creating history during Fenerbahce’s Europa League clash with Union Saint-Gilloise.
The Special One led the Turkish side in Europe for the very first time in the opening match of the League Phase of Europe’s second-tier competition on Thursday.
Mourinho made European history during his first continental outing for FenerbahceGetty
And in doing so, he set a new a record as soon as the referee blew for kick-off.
Fenerbahce are now the ninth side that Mourinho has managed in European competition.
This means he has now surpassed the joint-record he held with Carlo Ancelotti, who has managed eight different clubs in Europe.
Mourinho has now led Benfica, Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Tottenham, Roma and now Fenerbahce into Europe.
Not just content with competing in Europe though, Mourinho has a rather impressive track record when it comes to silverware.
The Portuguese boss has won five different European titles in club football.
His first was the UEFA Cup that he won with Porto in 2003, something that he followed up with the Champions League the very next year.
Mourinho also won the Champions League in 2010 when managing Italian giants Inter Milan.
He then won the Europa League – formerly the UEFA Cup – with Manchester United in 2017 before winning the Europa Conference League crown with Roma in 2022.
Ancelotti, however, has won 11 European titles, including five Champions League crowns as manager – a record for the competition.
As far as Mourinho’s hopes of adding another European trophy are concerned, he’ll be hoping that current club Fenerbahce can put in a strong showing.
Mourinho has won plenty of European trophies
They certainly got their campaign off to a strong start, leading Union Saint-Gilloise 1-0 at half-time in their League Phase opener.
This came just a few days after he refused to attend his press conference following Fenerbahce’s 3-1 defeat to rivals Galatasaray.
In a social media post, Galatasaray re-named him ‘The Crying One’, before sharing a picture of their own manager Okan Buruk calling him ‘The winner one’.
Mourinho did stop to speak to a journalist on his way out of the stadium, where he was shown this mocked up post from Galatasaray.
An understandably spiky Mourinho replied: “Are you serious or joking?”
He then walked off from the interview.
