While he has been increasingly unable to match the success he enjoyed towards the start of his managerial career, José Mourinho has still provided results in European competitions more recently, winning the UEL with Manchester United in 2016/17 and the UEFA Conference League five years later with AS Roma.
As such, Fener supporters will hope he can lead their side to maiden continental silverware, and they certainly put themselves in pole position to progress in the first half here.
The Turkish outfit were by far the more proactive in the opening stages, and they had the lead inside the opening quarter hour when Dušan Tadić directed Yusuf Akçiçek’s header from Filip Kostić’s cross into the corner.
In response, Anderlecht upped their game, and only a strong save from İrfan Eğribayat denied Leander Dendoncker from equalising midway through the half.
However, Mourinho has made himself a reputation of setting up solid teams defensively only to punish opponents when they least expect it, and just as Anderlecht appeared to be taking control of the encounter, the Yellow Canaries struck.
Akçiçek beat Tristan Degreef in a duel before releasing Kostić, whose cutback found Edin Džeko in space on the edge of the area. While the veteran’s initial shot was blocked, he stroked into the corner at the second attempt to put his side in a commanding position.
That second strike appeared to knock the stuffing out of the visitors, and the game was effectively ended as a contest before the hour mark.
Another quick counter-attack this time found Sebastian Szymański, whose cross was met by the bullet header it deserved from Youssef En-Nesyri.
All Anderlecht could do was to limit the damage and look for a consolation to reduce the deficit to make their job slightly less challenging in Belgium next week, and César Huerta did at least force Eğribayat into a sprawling save from the edge of the area.
Théo Leoni fired narrowly over the bar from distance, but it was ultimately a comfortable end to the game for Fenerbahçe, and barring disaster in seven days, they can already begin to prepare mentally for a clash with either Rangers or Olympiacos in the next round.
Anderlecht, meanwhile, need to produce a minor miracle on home turf after this chastening defeat and cannot afford to start that game as they did this one.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Yusuf Akçiçek (Fenerbahçe)