Jose Mourinho names the 'biggest surprise' he's seen while watching Euro 2024

Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho has been watching Euro 2024

Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho has been keeping a close eye on this summer’s European Championship.

Euro 2024 is fast approaching it’s conclusion with France, Spain, Netherlands or England set to be crowned champion.

It wasn’t to be for Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal who crashed out on penalties to the French after a drab 0-0 draw in regulation time.

 

Mourinho – who took charge of Fenerbahce this summer after leaving Roma in January – had tipped Roberto Martinez’s men to progress further in the competition due to the abundance of talent in their squad.

The ex-Chelsea manager picked England, Portugal and France as the competition’s favourites and admitted he was surprised by the performance of one nation in particular.

Mourinho claimed that Spain were the biggest surprise of the tournament so far.

 

“There is always frustration when you feel that you could do better,” he told SportTV. “The team’s potential was extremely high.

“I wasn’t far off the mark when I said that Portugal, France and England were the favourites. Two of them are in the semi-finals.

“Spain is the biggest surprise for me, in the way the team has evolved, they are practically a new team. “For me, at the moment, they are the team that plays the best and the one that has played the best throughout the tournament.”

Jose Mourinho has been impressed by Spain (Getty)
Jose Mourinho has been impressed by Spain (Getty)

Mourinho was in attendance for Portugal’s clash with Croatia and claimed he had a bad feeling about the team’s chances during the match.

 

He added: “Portugal wasn’t fantastic, despite reaching the quarter-finals. We expected more. I was at the National Stadium for the Portugal-Croatia match and it didn’t smell good. I didn’t get a great feeling.

“During the tournament we were the team that was making progress, but we weren’t convincing.

“Often, when the moment of truth comes, these teams are stronger. This wasn’t the end of Portugal, there wasn’t any improvement in the team.

“But it’s a young team, apart from the two veterans [Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe], a team with years ahead of them. The World Cup is just around the corner.”