Ruben Amorim met his new neighbours, and gave them a rude awakening in the place he’s about to no longer call home.
In his final game in charge of Sporting Lisbon at the Jose Alvalade Stadium, Manchester United-bound Amorin got the send off he wanted.
And in the process, nailed his first shot at judging himself against the gold standard of English football. On an emotional night in Lisbon, Amorim saw his side produce a stunning comeback to reduce Pep Guardiola’s team to rubble.
It was the first time since 2018 City had suffered three defeats in a row in all competitions. Phil Foden had threatened to ruin the script by firing City ahead with an early goal.
But the visitors were made to pay for squandering a host of chances, when Sporting produced a goal blitz to leave Guardiola’s superstars stunned. A hat-trick from Viktor Gyokeres and a fourth from Maximiliano Araujo secured the perfect goodbye for Amorim.
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And left Guardiola probably dreading the next time he has to come up against the rising star of top level management. Considering the team Amorim is about to inherit, maybe he realised this was his best chance to beat City for quite some time.
Amorim remains popular in these parts, despite his impending departure. Home fans unveiled a huge banner thanking him, with a picture of the trophies he had won at the club.
He made two changes for his final European game, while Guardiola sprung a surprise and named teenager Jahmai Simpson-Pusey in his starting line-up. It was the defender’s first senior start, just 24 hours after he celebrated his 19th birthday.
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And it promised to be a baptism of fire for the homegrown star, facing a side unbeaten in all competitions this season. But his night appeared to be made easier when Foden took just four minutes to fire City ahead.
Foden picked the pocket of Hidemasa Morita, before firing a shot past the hapless Franco Israel. No wonder Amorim had felt anxious before kick off.
A mistake from Rico Lewis handed Gyokeres a golden chance to equalise immediately, but with just Ederson to beat all he could do was send a weak chip straight at the Brazilian.
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The thrilling start continued when Erling Haaland could have doubled City’s lead, but sliced his effort wide. Isreal almost gifted a chance to Haaland, who also missed the target again when he should have done better.
City were threatening to rip Sporting to pieces, and Gyokeres had to hook Haaland’s header off his own line. Israel redeemed himself with a superb save to deny Haaland, but it was all a little embarrassing for Amorim.
But out of nothing Sporting turned the game upside down, with three goals in 10 minutes either side of half time. Gyokeres equalised with a cool finish on 38 minutes, before Araujo put the hosts ahead 20 seconds after the re-start.
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City’s collapse was complete barely a minute later when Josko Gvardiol tripped Francisco Trincao to concede a penalty, which Gyokeres slammed home to put Sporting in total control.
Haaland blew a chance to give City a lifeline when his penalty hit the bar, before Gyrokes showed him how its done to complete his hat-trick. And all that was left was for the comparisons between Amorim and Sir Alex Ferguson to begin.