INCOMING Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim saved one of his greatest Sporting victories for his last home game to condemn Manchester City to a third successive defeat for the first time since April 2018.
It was City’s heaviest defeat since September 2020 and only the second time in his trophy-ladened spell at City that Pep Guardiola has been beaten in three consecutive games in a single season.
To cap a thoroughly depressing night for City, star striker Erling Haaland blasted a second-half penalty against the crossbar.
Sporting’s own Scandanavian superstar Viktor Gyokeres – formerly of Coventry City – did much of the damage with a superb hat-trick.
The Swede drove home a 38th-minute leveller to Phil Foden’s early opener and then kept his cool after the break to beat Ederson twice from the spot.
The first of those penalties came in a disastrous start to the second half for City as they went behind seconds after the restart when Maximiliano Araujo raced onto a through ball and fired into the corner.
Sporting regulars in the media tribune said the victory was the greatest single game of Amorim’s reign, which has one more match to go, at Braga on Sunday.
“I think that it was clearly a landmark, big moment for everyone, the result, and that helped with the feeling of the goodbye to the fans,” said Amorim afterwards.
“I think everyone here deserved this moment, we were very happy here at the Jose Alvalade and to end in such a way adds a special touch. I think everyone deserved this.”
The fear in this part of Lisbon must be that momentum from seven successive victories in all competitions cannot be maintained. Not that it tempered the celebrations at the final whistle.
As for Amorim, he joked on Monday that a victory might mean United fans start comparing him to Sir Alex Ferguson.
That might be a stretch. But, there could not have been a better way to shove a huge amount of credit in the bank.
If the build-up to this game was all about Amorim and his impending move, much of the aftermath will be centred around Guardiola and his team.
