Jose Mourinho has one job - to turn bridesmaid Fenerbahce into the blushing star of the show.

The Istanbul giants are a ball of frustration on the banks of the Bosphorus, something illustrated perfectly by Mourinho in his short time in the Turkish capital.

The 62-year-old is no stranger to courting controversy of course, but in the firepit of Istanbul football he has rubbed plenty up the wrong way with his regular tirades at the Turkish referees in particular.

You do not have to pour much petrol on football in this city to engulf it in flames.

Indeed, following last week's derby stalemate with reigning champions, league leaders and bitter rivals Galatasaray, Mourinho received a four-game domestic ban - which was later halved - for his post-match comments.

He was not railing against Turkish officials this time though, because experienced Slovenian Slavko Vincic - who took charge of Rangers' Europa League final in 2022 - was drafted in to take charge at the request of both clubs.

The legendary Portuguese will however be in the dugout for their last-16 meeting against Barry Ferguson's Rangers as he continues to hunt down a sixth European trophy.

His first continental success would rather be forgotten by Celtic supporters, given it was he who masterminded Porto's Uefa Cup victory in the Seville sunshine in 2003 against Martin O'Neill's team.

A year later and it was the big one for 'The Special One', as Porto defeated Monaco in Gelsenkirchen to lift the Champions League.

It is perhaps surprising he has only got his hands on the European Cup once more since then, when he did so with Inter Milan in 2010.

The 2017 Europa League was won with Manchester United and five years later Mourinho completed the set by guiding Roma to the inaugural Conference League title.

Fenerbahce are strong and have invested significantly in their bid to wrestle the Turkish title back from their neighbours.

They are largely starved of success and have mostly watched Galatasaray and Besiktas win Super Lig since their last triumph 11 years ago. Even the unheralded Istanbul Baskakhsehir have won it during these barren years.

Like Glasgow, Istanbul is a football city. Only seven-time champions Trabzonspor have been able to prise the title out of the city in recent years, with Bursaspor's surprise success in 2010 the only other example of the trophy spending time outside of the sprawling Turkish capital.

Fenerbahce have backed Mourinho by bolstering their squad in a bid to get their hands on the title again.

They broke their record transfer fee to land Morocco's 2022 World Cup star Youssef En-Nesyri and the £16m capture from Sevilla has been repaying that spectacularly with 26 goals from 39 appearances.

That outlay was the big chunk of £33m spent on bringing in En-Nesyri, Turkey defender and boyhood Fener supporter Caglar Soyuncu - who won the FA Cup under Brendan Rodgers at Leicester City - and then Diego Carlos from Aston Villa in January.

Even former Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin commanded a £6.6m loan fee from his Saudi Arabian parent club Al Alhi.

One would imagine that Mourinho will not have come cheaply either.

But despite going all-in for glory this season, their Europa League run has not gone particularly smoothly.

They scraped into the knockout phase by one goal in front of Braga, winning just two of their league phase matches against Union Saint-Gilloise and Slavia Prague.

But those victories added to draws against Twente, Manchester United, Lyon and Midtjylland were enough to get them over the line and into a play-off with Anderlecht.

A 3-0 win at home against the Belgian club saw them get the job effectively done before a 2-2 draw in Brussels.

Veterans Edin Dzeko, the club captain, Dusan Tadic and Filip Kostic - who is on loan from Juventus - who are 38, 36 and 32 respectively - have been lynchpins for Mourinho, with the former Manchester City striker only seven behind En-Nesyri in the goalscoring list this term despite his advancing years.

Another Morocco hero from that memorable run to the World Cup semi-finals in Qatar, Sofyan Amrabat, joined on loan from Fiorentina and Scotland know all about the danger of Poland's Sebastian Szymanski, who scored at Hampden during last autumn's Nations League campaign.

One bonus for Rangers is that former Manchester United midfielder Fred misses the first leg through suspension.

Last season, Fenerbahce agonisingly lost out on the title by three points as a result of two draws in their final six league games.

They received a boost to their hopes at the weekend when Galatasaray conceded a late goal to draw with mid-table Kasimpasa while Mourinho celebrated a 3-0 win against Antalyaspor on Sunday evening.

They remain second but the gap has been reduced to four points.

The weight of expectation on Mourinho to overturn that and bring back the glory days is huge - but if he can and also add to his European haul, he could yet make himself a legend in the blue and yellow pocket of Europe's largest city.