“Since that final, since my suspension, the things that happened to us – we didn’t play Champions League because of a penalty on 120th-minute that only the fourth official saw.

“Today, we come here and the VAR is considered one of the best VARs. He didn’t see one of three penalties. I just hope it’s random. I paid for the suspension and I hope that it’s over. I pray that this is just bad luck.”

Mourinho said that “the fourth official was not arrogant like the referee”, Norwegian Espen Eskas, saying that he himself was calm while “it was difficult to control” his bench watching some of the decisions back on their laptops.

Despite the 3-1 win in Istanbul and never before having lost at home to a Turkish side, Rangers were understandably wary of a side full of talented if ageing star names and led by such an experienced and wily manager.

So it proved as two goals from Sebastian Szymanski consigned Rangers to a fourth successive home defeat for the first time in their history after domestic losses to St Mirren, Queen’s Park and Motherwell.

“We deserved to win over 90 minutes, we deserved to win after 120 minutes, we were the best team by far,” Mourinho said.

“In the first match, I was honest and I had enough to say we made mistakes, we deserved to lose, but in this match I also have to be honest and say we were the best team by far.

“The ref and the VAR decided that we should go to penalties.”

Mourinho also noted that his former side, Roma, had lost to Athletic Bilbao, who will be Rangers’ next opponents.

“In football everything is possible, but I played against Bilbao in the group stage,” he said. “Bilbao is a stronger team and the final is in Bilbao.

“I don’t know what happened to Roma, but after 10 minutes, Roma were playing with 10 men. So I think, if Rangers do it against Bilbao, it will be phenomenal.

“Congratulations to Rangers, but I think my team deserves everything from me. I’m proud of them.”