Mourinho hunting glory, Ricciardo ditched, what happened overnight in the world of sport
Europa League action and aggro, Red Bull wave goodbye to Aussie Ricciardo, Arsenal’s women laugh in face of danger
One of the most curiously exhilarating things about moving to Hong Kong from England has been waking up in the morning to an instant hit of significant sports results.
On a personal note, it has typically meant discovering the football team I support has been beaten again. There is something oddly addictive, nonetheless, about the adrenaline rush that comes with scrolling through various results.
When that has subsided, it is time to add flesh to the bones. Which is precisely what we have done here, with news of everything that happened while you were sleeping.
Jose in it for the long haul
It’s probably not what he envisaged himself doing 21 years after winning the Uefa Cup in charge of Porto, but Jose Mourinho led Fenerbahce to a 2-1 win over Union Saint-Gilloise as the Portuguese began his bid for a third triumph in Europe’s second-tier competition.
Mourinho, who won the Europa League as Manchester United boss in 2017, saw his team open up a two-goal lead, courtesy of Caglar Soyuncu and an own-goal from Christian Burgess.
There was some aggro, perhaps inevitably, with Union player Kevin Mac Allister, brother of Liverpool midfielder Alexis, and Bright Osayi-Samuel both being sent off. The Belgian team gave Mourinho a fright when former Accrington Stanley defender Ross Sykes scored in stoppage time, but Fenerbahce held out for the three points.
The relevance of all this in the bigger picture of this year’s Europa League is anybody’s guess. The 36 teams contesting the league phase each have to play a whopping eight matches under the newly-employed Swiss Model. After the closing matchday on January 30, the whole unwieldy process will have got rid of precisely one-third of them, leaving 24 still involved when the competition reverts to knock-out football.
