Mourinho’s Fenerbahce impress in Europa League playoff

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Mourinho’s Fenerbahce impress in Europa League playoff

Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce might have only just squeezed into the Europa League knockout playoff round but they’ve already moved to the brink of the round of 16.

The Istanbul side dominated to beat Anderlecht 3-0 on Thursday and take a comprehensive lead to Belgium for the second leg next week.

Two of Mourinho’s former clubs, Porto and Roma, were also playing each other later on Thursday in Europe’s second-tier competition.

Fenerbahce only just reached the playoffs by placing 24th in the new format — the last qualification place, and on a tiebreaker of goal difference.

They took the lead in the 11th minute after Anderlecht failed to clear a corner and the ball was put back to the area where Yusuf Akcicek nodded it on for Dusan Tadic to head into the net.

Edin Dzeko then doubled his team’s advantage shortly before halftime following good work from Filip Kostic down the left flank.

Dzeko’s initial shot was blocked by Anderlecht defender Lucas Hey but the veteran Bosnian forward fired home the rebound.

Youssef En-Nesyri added a third with a powerful header in the 57th minute and Fenerbahce missed several chances to extend their advantage.

Notably, Yusuf Akcicek’s header was deflected onto the post — it would have been the 19-year-old’s first career goal, after recording his first-ever assist in the first half.

Elsewhere, Ajax won 2-0 at Union Saint-Gilloise, with 16-year-old Jorthy Mokio netting his side’s second goal.

Mokio scored in the 71st minute. A corner was cleared but only as far as the Belgium Under-21 international on the edge of the area and he volleyed it in for his first senior goal for Ajax.

Mokio, aged 16 years and 350 days, became the youngest player to score in a knockout stage match in the Europa League, after Christian Rasmussen had netted the opener just before the hour.

Real Sociedad won 2-1 at Midtjylland, while Ferencvaros beat Viktoria Plzen 1-0.

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