The outspoken Portuguese was in a prickly mood after seeing his Fenerbahce side drop precious Super Lig points in a dramatic 3-3 draw with Bellona Kayserispor. Rival fans, particularly those of Galatasaray, had claimed that certain players were ruled out of that contest through suspension in order to aid Fener’s title bid.

Mourinho did not take kindly to probing on that subject in his post-match press conference, with the ‘Special One’ saying: “You’re asking me the same thing again. You’ve mentioned Kayserispor’s missing players twice. You asked this. Why? Are they 10–12-year-old kids?

“They’re professionals. The ones who played are also part of the squad. They have integrity, honor. These are players who possess that. What is your aim? The ones who replaced them had ambition. If you want to talk about the match, let’s talk about the match.”

Fenerbahce have slipped five points adrift of arch-rivals Galatasaray in the Turkish top-flight table, as title dreams begin to fade. Mourinho added: “I don’t want to go in that direction. I don’t want to make a general evaluation of the title race or of our chances.

“Our odds now are perhaps what they were in August or September. If I do that, I’ll seem like I’m trying to avoid talking about today’s game. In a match we needed to win, we lost two points because of too many mistakes.”

Mourinho’s men having just six more games to take in this season.