AFP – Australian government officials said yesterday they had placed a major steelworks into administration as it struggled to repay mounting debts.
Special legislation was rushed through the South Australia state Parliament that allowed receivers to take control of the Whyalla Steelworks, located 400 kilometres northwest of Adelaide.
The site – owned by British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance – is one of only two Australian steelworks and produces 75 per cent of Australian structural seel, government figures show.
It employs about 1,000 people, according to local media.
“The South Australian government has intervened. The steelworks is now in the hands of an administrator, who will stabilise operations and explore a possible sale to a new owner,” South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said.
“This is a significant step, and one we do not take lightly. But it is a necessary one to secure the long-term future of Whyalla.”
He added that “it’s not just the steelworks itself – it’s a vast number of local suppliers, small businesses owned and operated by South Australians, whose debts remain unpaid, whose revenue has evaporated, and whose livelihoods are at stake”.
“Only an intervention of this nature will protect the steelworks and its creditors.”
GFG faced pressure to pay back tens of millions of dollars to creditors, including the South Australia government for royalties and water fees, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
GFG Alliance – which purchased the steelworks in 2017 for AUD700 million (USD445.6 million) – directly employs 1,000 people in Whyalla, which has a population of 22,000, the paper said.
Australian Workers’ Union secretary Paul Farrow said the country’s “economic sovereignty” hinged on the Whyalla Steelworks remaining operational.
“Without Whyalla, we will be forced to rely on China for long steel. That would be catastrophic,” he said.
Whyalla steelworks, located around 400 kilometres northwest of Adelaide. PHOTO: AFP
PARIS (AFP) – Bayern Munich needed a stoppage-time goal to see off Celtic and secure a place in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday, while AC Milan were dumped out by Feyenoord and both Club Brugge and Benfica also advanced.
In Germany, Bayern were defending a 2-1 lead over Celtic in their play-off tie from last week’s first leg but the Bundesliga leaders were unable to put the tie to bed, with Harry Kane hitting the bar before half-time.
Instead it was Celtic who went ahead on the night on 63 minutes thanks to Nicolas Kuehn, the former Bayern player, who slotted low into the net after a failed attempt to win the ball by Kim Min-jae.
That meant the tie was heading for extra time, but Bayern ultimately would not need to go that far as they scored in the fourth minute of injury time.
Alphonso Davies bundled the ball in from close range to make the score 1-1 on the night and clinch the tie for six-time European champions Bayern 3-2 on aggregate.
Vincent Kompany’s team will find out their last-16 opponents when the draw is made tomorrow, but it will be either German rivals Bayer Leverkusen or Atletico Madrid.
“Of course, we always want to dominate and be much better than the opponent, especially here. But the result is always the most important thing,” Kompany told UEFA.com.
It was a heartbreaking way for Celtic to go out but the Scottish champions will take heart from their performance over the two legs.
Bayern Munich’s defender Alphonso Davies celebrates after scoring the equalising goal during the UEFA Champions League second-leg, knockout phase play-off match against Celtic. PHOTO: AFP & APBrugge’s scorer Chemsdine Talbi and his teammate Cristos Tzolis celebrate their side’s second goal during a Champions League, playoff second leg against Atalanta. PHOTO: AFP & APMonaco’s Takumi Minamino. PHOTO: AFP & AP
“It never looked like we were going to concede the goal that we did and sadly for us, we did. I can only take immense pride from the performance and the guys gave everything,” said Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.
Earlier, seven-time European Cup winners Milan were eliminated by Feyenoord, a 1-1 draw at San Siro taking the Dutch club through 2-1 on aggregate.
Santiago Gimenez, playing against the club he left just last month, had put Milan ahead on the night from close range in the first minute to level the tie on aggregate.
However, Milan had Theo Hernandez sent off early in the second half for a second booking, and Feyenoord levelled on the night through Julian Carranza on 73 minutes.
The visitors had Givairo Read shown a red card at the end of the game after they had held on to win the tie.
They could now come back to San Siro in the next round, with Inter Milan and Arsenal their two possible opponents.
In Lisbon, Benfica drew 3-3 at home with Monaco to win their play-off tie 4-3 on aggregate and go through to play either Barcelona or Liverpool next.
Having won 1-0 in Monaco last week, the Portuguese giants extended their aggregate lead when Kerem Akturkoglu opened the scoring on the night midway through the first half.
Monaco came roaring back with Takumi Minamino and Eliesse Ben Seghir netting either side of half-time to level the tie on aggregate.
Vangelis Pavlidis scored a penalty, his seventh goal in his last six Champions League games, to make it 2-2 on the night, only for substitute George Ilenikhena to hit back for Monaco.
However, the tie swung decisively back towards Benfica as Orkun Kokcu made it 3-3 on the night on 84 minutes.
“It was a tough night, we knew Monaco would put pressure on us from the start and we felt it, we didn’t play our best game,” Kokcu told broadcaster SportTV.
“Still, we’re happy to have progressed to the last 16. I’m happy to have contributed to the result.”
Teenage starlet Chemsdine Talbi scored twice as Club Brugge claimed a 3-1 victory away to Atalanta in Italy to win their tie 5-2 on aggregate.
Talbi’s brace was followed by a superb Ferran Jutgla strike as the Belgians built on their 2-1 win at home in last week’s first leg and advanced to a last 16 tie against either Lille or Aston Villa.
Atalanta had 29 attempts on goal but were punished on the break by the Belgians and Ademola Lookman’s reply at the start of the second half was scant consolation. Lookman also had a penalty saved while Atalanta captain Rafael Toloi was sent off late on, as last season’s Europa League winners bowed out.
The remaining play-off second legs took place yesterday, with the standout fixture seeing Real Madrid defend a 3-2 first-leg lead at home to Manchester City.
PARIS (AFP) – Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce are poised to progress to the last 16 of the Europa League when they visit Anderlecht as the Portuguese coach targets a sixth European trophy of his storied managerial career.
Fenerbahce go into the second leg of their knockout phase play-off tie with a healthy 3-0 lead from the first meeting last week in Istanbul, when Dusan Tadic, captain Edin Dzeko and Youssef En-Nesyri scored their goals.
Assuming they avoid a spectacular collapse in Brussels, they will advance to a tie in the next round against either Rangers or Greek giants Olympiakos, with the identity of their opponent to be revealed today’s draw.
Now aged 62, Mourinho was appointed ahead of this season by the Istanbul giants from the Asian side of the Bosphorus. He was charged with the task of unseating great rivals Galatasaray and delivering a first Turkish title for Fenerbahce since 2014.
However, the outlook domestically does not look too promising – Fenerbahce are currently second, six points behind unbeaten Galatasaray with 23 games played.
Mourinho’s side have lost just two Super Lig games, 3-1 at home to Galatasaray in September, and 1-0 at another Istanbul rival, Besiktas, in December.
With that in mind, Fenerbahce could be forgiven for placing most of their focus just now on the next intercontinental derby against Galatasaray – the clubs come from the Asian and European sides of the Bosphorus respectively – on Monday.
But success in Europe would be a remarkable achievement for Mourinho, whose side were eliminated from this season’s Champions League in the qualifying rounds. Fenerbahce have never been to a European final and the only international title for a Turkish club remains Galatasaray’s triumph in the UEFA Cup in 2000.
AFP – Banking giant HSBC said yesterday that Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Georges Elhedery’s plan since October to simplify the company’s structure and geographic setup will yield USD1.5 billion in annual cost savings by the end of 2026.
Elhedery’s plan for a “simpler, more dynamic, and agile organisation” has shaken up Europe’s largest bank, whose shares in Hong Kong have rallied to an 11-year high.
“Since becoming CEO, I have focused on simplifying how we operate and injected energy and intent into the way we deliver our strategy,” Elhedery said in an earnings statement yesterday.
“Our strong 2024 performance provides firm financial foundations upon which to build for the future.”
The firm said pre-tax profit rose six per cent to USD32.3 billion in 2024, while profit attributable to shareholders edged up two percent to USD22.9 billion.
The London-headquartered lender also announced a share buy-back of up to USD2 billion to be completed by the time it announced this year’s first-quarter results. HSBC generates most of its revenue in Asia and has spent several years pivoting to the region, vowing to develop its wealth business and target fast-growing markets.
Shortly after Elhedery became CEO, the lender said it would simplify its structure and split into four parts: Hong Kong, United Kingdom, “corporate and institutional banking” plus “international wealth and premier banking”.
The bank will also streamline its geographical set-up by bringing together its Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions, while uniting its European and United States operations.
The “cost target includes the impact of simplification-related saves associated with our announced reorganisation, which aims to generate approximately USD0.3 billion of cost reductions in 2025, with a commitment to an annualised reduction of USD1.5 billion in our cost base expected by the end of 2026”, it said yesterday.
A pedestrian walks past an HSBC advertisement. PHOTO: AFP
AP – Winson Lau always had contingency plans. But he wasn’t prepared for data centres.
Lau relies on water and electricity to operate his thriving export business in Malaysia’s Johor province, where he raises a kaleidoscope of tropical fish in rows of aquariums, including albino fish with red spots that can fetch up to USD10,000 from collectors. His contingency plans in the event of an outage involve an intricate system of purifying wastewater through friendly bacteria and an alarm system to quickly switch to backup power.
But these measures can’t compete with the gigantic, power-guzzling and thirsty data centres being built in Johor. The province is on track to have at least 1.6 gigawatts of data centres at any given moment from nearly nothing in 2019, making it the fastest-growing data centre market in Southeast Asia, according to a report published in April.
Data centres are large, windowless buildings filled with racks of computers that need lots of electricity. To prevent overheating, they rely on energy-intensive air conditioning systems using pumped water.
Increasingly used by tech companies for running artificial intelligence (AI) systems, the power demand from future facilities in Malaysia may rise to over five gigawatts by 2035, according to researchers at Malaysia’s Kenanga Investment Bank. This is more than half of Malaysia’s entire renewable capacity in 2023. Over 95 per cent of the energy available to Malaysia in 2022 was from fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. The country is now the fifth-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas globally. And with planned renewable projects, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in September that the country was “confident of a surplus of energy” to fuel large projects and keep exporting.
But Lau doesn’t fancy the chances of his homegrown business competing against the foreign-funded behemoths for energy. Even without data centres, Malaysia is susceptible to power interruptions because of storms, including one that lasted 30 minutes last year and killed 300,000 fish, costing Lau over USD1 million. He worries that data centres would result in longer outages.
To survive, he is moving to Thailand and already scouting potential locations for a new fish farm.
“Big data centre is coming and there is shortage of power,” he said. “It’ll be crazy.”
Malaysia is betting that potential economic growth from data centres justifies the risk. Once touted as an Asian tiger on the cusp of becoming rich, its industries shrunk in the late 1990s after the Asian financial crisis. It has since languished in the middle-income trap.
Data centres, the government hopes, will modernise its economy and indirectly create thousands of high-paying jobs.
COSTS VERSUS BENEFITS
But experts worry that Malaysia, and others like Vietnam, Indonesia and India vying for billion-dollar investments from tech giants, may be overstating data centres’ transformative capabilities that also come at a price: Data centres gobble up land, water and electricity while creating far fewer jobs than they promise.
Most data centres provide 30 to 50 permanent jobs while the larger ones create 200 jobs at most, according to a report by the American nonprofit Good Jobs First.
Add to this the rapid increase in power and water use and some experts such as Sofia Scasserra, who researches digital economies at the Amsterdam-based think tank Transnational Institute, said that tech companies exploiting resources in poorer countries while extracting data from their populations to get rich is akin to “digital colonialism”.
She compared data extraction to silver mining in Bolivia, which enriched colonial Spain but left nothing behind for Latin America.
“They are extracting data in the same way. Data doesn’t even leave (behind) taxes,” she said.
Indeed, only a small portion of Malaysia’s data centre capacity is actually for Malaysian users.
Through a network of submarine cables that fans out into the world, they service East Asia, China and Europe.
And the data centres themselves are run by foreign companies such as America’s Equinix and Microsoft as well as Chinese competitor GDS Holdings that works with tech giants such as Alibaba.
Construction workers walk to a data centre building under construction in Sedenak Tech Park in Johor, Malaysia. PHOTO: APA worker feeds tropical fish at an aquarium in Johor Bahru town. PHOTO: AP
DOHA (AFP) – Novak Djokovic’s comeback came to a crashing halt on Tuesday as he lost 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 to Matteo Berrettini in the second round of the Qatar Open.
Djokovic, who was seeded third and received a first-round bye, was playing his first match since limping out of his Australian Open semi-final in January.
But the Serb said that while he was not 100 per cent, fitness was not the issue.
“I was outplayed by just a better player today,” he said.
“Yes, I wasn’t at my desired level, and it could be that I’m still not moving the way I want to move, but I played without pain, so there is no excuse in that.
“I think he played a masterclass match to be honest, tactically, and served very well, so just a very deserved win from his side.”
It was only Berrettini’s second win this year and his first over a player in the top 10 since 2023.
It was also the Italian’s first ever win over Djokovic. Their previous encounters included victories for the Serb in the Wimbledon final and Roland Garros quarterfinals both in 2021.
“Something I’ve been looking to do for a long time. I’ve played against him in the most important tournaments on tour,” the 28-year-old Italian said on court after the victory. “I wish I could have won one of those matches.”
Italy’s Matteo Berettin shakes hands with Serbia’s Novak Djokovic after their men’s singles match at the ATP Qatar Open tennis tournament in Doha. PHOTO: AFPDaniil Medvedev. PHOTO: AFPSerbia’s Novak Djokovic hits a return to Italy’s Matteo Berettini during their men’s singles match at the ATP Qatar Open tennis tournament in Doha. PHOTO: AFP
Berrettini has struggled with injuries over the last 18 months but won three tournaments after returning to court last year.
“Really happy with my performance,” he said.
“Really happy because I enjoyed my time out there, which is the most important thing.”
The first set went with serve but Berrettini took two points off Djokovic’s serve to win the tiebreak.
The Italian then broke to love in the second game of the second set.
Djokovic had broken Berrettini 27 times in their four previous encounters but the Italian was comfortable on serve until the final game before finally winning on his second match point.
“A champion like Novak is always ready to come back,” Berrettini said. “You don’t have to think about match point. You have to think about the next point.”
Djokovic said that Andy Murray had agreed to continue as his coach “indefinitely” but said that he did not plan to overhaul his style.
“I am trying to improve my game, like everybody else. But my game is not going to change now drastically,” Djokovic said.
“My game is what it is, the core is going to be the same.
“There are more injuries. Things are not the same as 10 years ago, 15 years ago. I still try to take care of my body on a daily basis, and it’s more challenging now, no doubt. I still try to do my very best, given the circumstances.”
Alex de Minaur celebrated his birthday by beating Russian Roman Safiullin 6-1, 7-5, even though the Australian did not enjoy the weather. “They’re tough days, these ones,” said De Minaur. “It’s cold, it’s windy, you probably don’t want to get out of bed. But once you step on court, you have to do everything you can to win.
“Whether it’s ugly or pretty tennis, you just put the ball in the court, and that’s what I did today.”
World No 6 Daniil Medvedev eliminated compatriot and defending champion Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Medvedev, the former world No 1, has not won a tournament since the Rome Masters in spring 2023. He was knocked out in the second round of this year’s Australian Open by teenage American Learner Tien.
A third Russian former champion, Andrey Rublev, the fifth seed, beat Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-4.
AP – Small business owners that rely on eggs for their products are facing sticker shock because the usually reliable staple is in short supply.
Avian flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, causing United States (US) egg prices to skyrocket. The average price of a dozen Grade A eggs in US cities reached USD4.95 in January, eclipsing the previous record of USD4.82 set two years earlier and more than double the low of USD2.04 that was recorded in August 2023. The Agriculture Department predicts prices will soar another 20 per cent this year.
Most owners are taking the increase in stride, looking at it as just one of many hurdles they constantly face. But if the problem persists, they could be forced to raise prices or adjust their products.
Liz Berman is the owner and sole proprietor of The Sleepy Baker in Natick, Massachusetts. She specialises in custom, from-scratch cakes but also sells cupcakes, cookies, pies and other baked goods.
Eggs are just one of the baking ingredients experiencing price shocks. Items such as cocoa powder and butter have gone up as well. And price isn’t the only issue.
“It’s not just the cost of eggs, right? It’s also just the availability,” she said. She prefers to buy medium-sized white shelled eggs, buying a box with 18 dozen eggs, but two weeks ago those were unavailable, so she had to buy brown eggs in individual cartons of 12. “It sounds kind of silly, but when I I’m the sole proprietor and I have a huge volume of work, to have to take a dozen of eggs out of my walk-in at a time as opposed to a flat of eggs, it’s just it’s a pain,” she said.
She doesn’t think prices will ease anytime soon. Cocoa powder prices have been elevated for years.
“I think ultimately I’m going to have to increase my prices, which is hard because that’s going to mean that there’s a category of customer that won’t order from me anymore,” she said.
In Princeton, New Jersey, John Nachlinger, owner of the Bad Cookie Company, is imposing a temporary USD.025 per cookie surcharge to help mitigate added costs. “As cookies are already a tight-margin food, these increases have really hurt our bottom line,” Nachlinger said.
He said he doesn’t want to permanently raise prices or adjust the size of his cookies since he hopes the egg situation is temporary. “We want to bring value to our customers,” he said.
ABOVE & BELOW: A sign notes the limitation on the purchase of eggs in a Costco warehouse in Colorado, United States; and a consumer places a carton of eggs in a cart. PHOTO: APPHOTO: AP
LONDON (AP) – As an 18-year-old rookie taking over Lewis Hamilton’s spot at Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli is having an introduction to Formula 1 (F1) unlike any other.
Fortunately, he’s had some advice from the seven-time champion.
“He said mainly to enjoy (it), not worrying about the external circumstances,” Antonelli told reporters on Tuesday. “Just working on yourself, enjoy the process, that was the main thing he said.”
Given Hamilton’s legacy at Mercedes, where he won six titles, and his influence on F1, Antonelli prefers to be called “the next Mercedes driver” rather than the replacement for Hamilton, who’s now at Ferrari.
Hamilton’s own rookie season for McLaren in 2007 – one year after Antonelli was born – went down in F1 history as he won four races and missed out on the title by one point to Kimi Raikkonen.
“Looking back at his 2007 season, which was incredible because he almost won the championship in his rookie year, what was quite impressive was the consistency,” Antonelli said.
“What (Hamilton) did really well is starting off well and then keep developing without trying to do too much. That’s why he did an amazing season and that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
Long considered one of the most promising talents in junior series, Antonelli raced in Formula 2 last year and got his first taste of F1 with a drive last Friday practice at his home Italian Grand Prix in August.
Driving George Russell’s car, he had a high-speed crash and apologised to team principal Toto Wolff. Antonelli said Mercedes gave him the support he needed. “When you have the right people around you, they really help you not to get too bogged down by these things. I think the natural thing for a driver is you go on track and you try to push as hard as you can,” he said.
“And the F1 (cars) nowadays are really complicated on this factor because the aerodynamic (effect) is so powerful that the fine line between being on the limit and going over is so little. And as soon as you go 105 per cent, it happens like what happened in Monza.”
Antonelli was able to drive an F1 car before he could legally drive on the road and only got his license last month. His examiner turned out to be a fan. “I was quite nervous, I’m not going to lie, because I didn’t want to fail,” Antonelli said.
Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy and Mercedes driver George Russell of Britain, pose for cameras as they arrive to the F1 75 Live launch event at the O2 arena in London. PHOTO: AP
Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah (Yayasan) as the secretariat for Pengiran Muda Mahkota Al-Muhtadee Billah Fund for Orphans (DANA) held a Doa Kesyukuran ceremony at An-Naura Hall of Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Complex yesterday, in conjunction with the 51st birthday of His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah ibni His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office.
His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Malik, Chairman of the Committee of Governors of Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, attended the event.
Upon arrival, His Royal Highness was greeted by Minister of Religious Affairs Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman and Minister of Foreign Affairs II Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Erywan bin Pehin Datu Pekerma Jaya Haji Mohd Yusof, as Yayasan committee members; Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Defence II Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Awang Haji Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof as the Chairman of the DANA Board of Trustees; Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar as Deputy Chairman of the DANA Board of Trustees; and Assistant Managing Director of Brunei Investment Agency Ahmad Jefri bin Abdul Rahman as the Acting Chief Executive Officer of DANA.
The ceremony commenced with the mass recitation of Surah Yaasiin and Tahlil, followed by the recitation of Doa Kesyukuran in conjunction with the 51st birthday of His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah. Begawan Pehin Khatib Dato Paduka Haji Metassan bin Haji Tahir led the mass Asar prayer.
The DANA is a permanent pesambah in the form of charity foundation presented by Yayasan to mark the proclamation of His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah as the Crown Prince on August 10, 1998. DANA was established on August 25, 1998. – James Kon
ABOVE & BELOW: Photos show His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Malik, Chairman of the Committee of Governors of Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, during the Doa Kesyukuran ceremony. PHOTO: RAFI ROSLIPHOTO: RAFI ROSLIPHOTO: RAFI ROSLI
The Information Department at the Prime Minister’s Office, conducted a Personal Contact Programme at the Kampong Jerudong ‘A’ Village Head’s Office, Mukim Sengkurong to disseminate government policies, address community concerns and enhance two-way communication between the government and the public.
Deputy Director of Information Sastra Sarini binti Haji Julaini led the department’s delegation while Acting Village Head of Kampong Jerudong ‘A’ Mohammad Nazmi Fa’iz bin Haji Abu Bakar represented the community. Also in attendance was Penghulu of Mukim Sengkurong Dr Haji Abdullah Hanif bin Orang Kaya Maharaja Dinda Haji Saman.
The programme included briefings on flag etiquette procedures by the Information Department and the new smart metering system by Unified Smart Metering System Sdn Bhd (USMS).
In her opening remarks, Sastra Sarini highlighted the Information Department’s role as the government’s “voice, eyes, and ears”, ensuring the dissemination of up-to-date policies and issues through initiatives such as the Personal Contact Programme and the official government publication Pelita Brunei.
A dialogue session was also held, allowing residents to raise concerns on infrastructure, safety, and public amenities, aligning with the programme’s objective of fostering closer government-community relations. – Fadley Faisal
A group photo at the event. PHOTO: INFORMATION DEPARTMENTABOVE & BELOW: Photos show participants in the programme. PHOTO: INFORMATION DEPARTMENTPHOTO: INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
Mourinho eyes Europa League run with Fenerbahce
PARIS (AFP) – Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce are poised to progress to the last 16 of the Europa League when they visit Anderlecht as the Portuguese coach targets a sixth European trophy of his storied managerial career.
Fenerbahce go into the second leg of their knockout phase play-off tie with a healthy 3-0 lead from the first meeting last week in Istanbul, when Dusan Tadic, captain Edin Dzeko and Youssef En-Nesyri scored their goals.
Assuming they avoid a spectacular collapse in Brussels, they will advance to a tie in the next round against either Rangers or Greek giants Olympiakos, with the identity of their opponent to be revealed today’s draw.
Now aged 62, Mourinho was appointed ahead of this season by the Istanbul giants from the Asian side of the Bosphorus. He was charged with the task of unseating great rivals Galatasaray and delivering a first Turkish title for Fenerbahce since 2014.
However, the outlook domestically does not look too promising – Fenerbahce are currently second, six points behind unbeaten Galatasaray with 23 games played.
Mourinho’s side have lost just two Super Lig games, 3-1 at home to Galatasaray in September, and 1-0 at another Istanbul rival, Besiktas, in December.
With that in mind, Fenerbahce could be forgiven for placing most of their focus just now on the next intercontinental derby against Galatasaray – the clubs come from the Asian and European sides of the Bosphorus respectively – on Monday.
But success in Europe would be a remarkable achievement for Mourinho, whose side were eliminated from this season’s Champions League in the qualifying rounds. Fenerbahce have never been to a European final and the only international title for a Turkish club remains Galatasaray’s triumph in the UEFA Cup in 2000.