Jose Mourinho is box office as he repeats viral catch-phrase, destroys referee and aims cheeky dig at Manchester United

“I don’t want to speak about it.”

It’s been over ten years since Jose Mourinho first uttered the ‘I prefer not to speak’ phrase which has developed into a meme and taken on a life of its own, but the now Fenerbahce boss brought it back after his side’s Europa League draw against Manchester United.

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An impressive long-range strike by Christian Eriksen neutralised a notoriously hostile Turkish crowd in Istanbul to put the Red Devils 1-0 up at half time.

But the home crowd found their voice after the break with Fenerbahce hitting back through Youssef En-Nesyri’s close-range header early in the second half.

Man United then had to whether a Fenerbahce storm and were perhaps fortunate to escape going behind with the Turkish outfit being denied a penalty when Bright Osayi-Samuel appeared to be upended by Manuel Ugarte inside the Man United box.

To the outrage of Mourinho and the Fenerbahce bench, referee Clement Turpin elected not to award them a penalty – but that’s where the drama only began.

Mourinho was promptly sent off, reportedly for ‘foul and abusive language’ at the officials, and was forced to watch the remainder of the game in the stands.

And when asked what happened with regards to his dismissal, Mourinho turned to his iconic catch-phrase in an interview with TNT Sports.

“I don’t want to speak about it,” he responded.

Pressed on what the referee said to him, Mourinho said: “He told me something incredible. He told at the same time he could see the action in the box and my behaviour in the touchline.

“I congratulate him because his peripheral vision is unbelievable… the game is 100mph, he had one eye on the penalty situation and one eye on the bench and my behaviour.

“That’s why he’s one of the best referees in the world.”

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“I watched the incident, I don’t speak about the incident,” Mourinho continued.

The Portuguese was of course facing his former club, who he guided to Europa League glory in the 2016/17 season, but couldn’t resist aiming a jibe at his previous employers.

“They got a point against us, not us against them,” Mourinho said.

“We played amazing, I told the players if we play like this in the Turkish league we destroy every team because of course we played against a team that is superior level than us.

“Of course, the Premier League has more quality, more intensity, more pace, more everything.

“I think my boys did an amazing match. Probably in England, people will speak about two or three players for Manchester United that didn’t play, you do not know how many of us didn’t play. At the start, we had four players out of the Europa League list, and we also had injuries.

“Then we had to finish the game with a centre-back playing right-back, a right-back playing left-back, we had to do a crazy puzzle.

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“But our performance was extraordinary. I couldn’t ask any more from the players.”

Although he did reserve praise for one Red Devils player.

“Andre Onana made two incredible saves in our fantastic initial period because we started the game so well,” Mourinho said.

“They scored in a situation where we knew that they could because of the pace of the wingers and the arrival of the midfield players was something that we knew that could hurt us.

“But I think that we had a phenomenal performance.”

“Come on, he [Onana] saved the result,” Mourinho added.

“My goalkeeper didn’t make a save, he [Onana] made two impossible saves in ten seconds. He was the most decisive player in the result.

“Of course, he didn’t make 20 saves but he made two saves that were incredible – Onana could do it.”

Oh Jose, we’ve missed you!