Sporting Lisbon 4-1 Manchester City. Barely anyone could believe it. Ruben Amorim, soon to sail to Manchester United, was lifted high by his players as if they had won the World Cup.
He had just masterminded one of the heaviest defeats suffered by Pep Guardiola. Only twice before had one of his teams conceded four in the Champions League.
The look on Erling Haaland‘s face told the story after Viktor Gyokeres sealed his hat-trick. Somehow inscrutable and easy to decode at the same time. As he stared across the Estadio Jose Alvalade, with darts’ favourite anthem Chase The Sun spilling from the stands, this was rock bottom – and potentially a harbinger of wounds to come.
Manchester United fans will take Sporting’s victory as their own, a sign that Amorim can bring back their supremacy in city, nation, and Europe. Time will tell if that’s a blind hope, and it’s a long road ahead, but this was the perfect night for Amorim.
With that in mind, here are five things we learned about the incoming United manager.
Ruben Amorim masterminded Sporting Lisbon’s 4-1 win over Manchester City on Tuesday
Manchester United fans have a lot to like about the incoming Portuguese manager
Erling Haaland’s face told the story as City sunk to one of their worst losses with Pep Guardiola
Deadly counter-attacks
Sporting were blistering on the counter-attack against City.
Their first two goals both came from rapid surges from one end to the other, scything City apart with quick decision-making, incisive passes, and clever movement. Their first penalty also resulted from a quick attack down the right flank.
This is particularly exciting for United who have become used to a counter-attacking style under Erik ten Hag but have been unable to produce the goods at the final moment.
For the first goal, all it took was a through ball from 17-year-old Geovany Quenda inside Sporting’s own half to release Gyokeres, who timed his run impeccably to fool Manuel Akanji and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey – and chipped Ederson with his fourth touch of the move to send the home fans into delirium.
The second came just 20 seconds after half-time. This wasn’t a classic counter in terms of City being overcommitted and vulnerable – Sporting had to find a way past their whole team.
From the backline, it took five passes to slice apart City. Pedro ‘Pote’ Goncalves glided down the left flank, beating his man and cutting inside before taking out four City defenders as he slipped through goalscorer Maximiliano Araujo.
What made the goal remarkable was that, when Goncalves released the ball, Araujo had four City defenders to beat with his run, and several yards to make up, but it was so well-timed that he had all the momentum to latch on to the ball and fire through Ederson.
For United fans watching, it was easy to get excited about the anticipation and telepathic understanding that Amorim has been able to foster between his forwards at Sporting.
Two of Sporting’s goals directly came from counter-attacks, as did one of their penalties
The Portuguese side exposed City multiple times with clever movement and quick passing
Pedro Goncalves’ pass was timed perfectly for Maximilian Araujo to run past defenders on to
Getting the best out of an elite striker
You wonder if the look on Haaland’s face was partly born out of how Gyokeres outshone him on Tuesday.
The white-hot striker has hit 67 goals in 66 games for Sporting since joining from Coventry in summer 2023.
And the question so far was whether Amorim had it easy, getting so much out of Gyokeres. It’s all well and good notching four against Estrela Amadora, quite another going to Anfield, or the Etihad, or the Emirates.
But what Tuesday night proved is that Amorim can find a way of getting his stars to threaten even Europe’s best. Yes, two of Gyokeres’ goals were penalties, but he could have had more on a night where brought bedlam to City’s backline.
The warning signs came eight minutes in when Gyokeres left City’s defenders for dead and hared down on goal, before limply dinking it into Ederson’s hands – should have been a goal.
Amorim has turned Gyokeres from a good Championship striker into a menacing powerhouse, bursting with brains and brawn. He can finish, too.
While City did take a gamble on teenage full debutant Simpson-Pusey, this night proved that Gyokeres can terrorise and punish top Premier League defences.
He should be top of United’s shortlist when Amorim arrives at United. None of their forward stars compare to him.
Viktor Gyokeres struck twice against City and Amorim’s setup got the most out of him
United fans will be hoping that Gyokeres, who shares qualities with Erling Haaland, can make a similar impact with their side
His back three CAN work in the Premier League – but it wasn’t perfect
Alright, a caveat to this – City did have 20 shots. Guardiola’s men dominated the game, had 73 per cent of the ball, and created more than enough chances to finish it in the first half. This was not a vintate catenaccio lock-out by Sporting.
They certainly didn’t keep Haaland mute. He had five efforts on goal, one of them the penalty that he crashed against the crossbar.
But it’s worth keeping in mind that Sporting were playing one of the best teams the Premier League has ever seen. You wouldn’t expect most sides to provide anywhere near as much potency.
And Sporting gained so much from that extra man further forward in the 3-4-3. With Quenda supporting Francisco Trincao down the right, and Araujo linking up with Goncalves down the left, they were able to damage City in the wide areas and cause overloads, getting in positions where a standard full-back might not have.
The back three isn’t so common anymore in the Premier League, and Antonio Conte was the last manager to win the title using the system with Chelsea in 2016-17.
But Amorim has deployed a 3-4-3 or a 3-4-2-1 throughout his reign in Lisbon and it is hard to see him compromising on this.
One worry is that the majority of United’s players have never played in a back three. A study by data scientist Aurel Nazmiu found that only three of their players had played in a back three more than the average Premier League star – Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount, and former Sporting man Manuel Ugarte, none of whom are defenders anyway.
Amorim favours playing a back three and it helped them create overloads in wide areas
Phil Foden scored and City had 20 shots, so Sporting’s backline was far from perfect
Don’t expect Amorim’s United team to look like Sporting
For all his philosophy at Sporting – three at the back, possession football but devastating on the counter, high pressing (sounds like everyone nowadays, right?) – we should not expect Amorim to translate everything to Old Trafford.
Don’t take it from us. He said it himself after the City win.
‘We cannot transport one reality to another context.
‘Manchester United cannot play the way we play, they cannot play so defensively, and we will have to adapt ourselves.’
What this means in practice is unclear, but it will be interesting to see which aspects of his ideological pick-and-mix Amorim retains and which he spits out.
What is obvious is that United’s pressing pattern is dessicated. Ruben Fernandes is often the only runner, and no matter how eager he is, if he is not backed up by a Joshua Zirkzee or Casemiro or Marcus Rashford, it isn’t going to work.
Amorim’s clear structure at Sporting, where central midfielders Morten Hjulmand and Hidemasa Morita are key cogs rather than being bypassed, is something United could do with.
Manchester United’s players might struggle to adapt to a back three if Amorim deploys it
Amorim admitted that United cannot play so defensively, but will he maximise their attack?
Seventeen-year-old Goncaly Quenda was one of the key players trusted by Amorim to play City
Putting faith in youngsters
Millions of eyeballs were on Sporting’s match and Amorim was more than happy to thrust several young charges into the limelight. This will, of course, appeal to United, with their rich heritage of blooding academy products on the Old Trafford turf.
The shining light of youth on Tuesday was right midfielder Quenda, 17, who came through Sporting’s Cristiano Ronaldo Academy. He was at the heartbeat of the operation, making a team-high 57 passes, and bagged a great assist for the first goal.
He wasn’t just chucked in – this was his 16th appearances this campaign and there was a clear strategy to involve him as heavily as any more senior player.
There were also solid performances from defenders Zeno Debast, 21, and Ousmane Diomande, 20, with a host of player in their early 20s.
Sporting’s average player age this season in the league has been 23.9 – the second-youngest behind Porto. Not bad considering they’ve won all 10 of their games, scoring 35 and conceding three. United’s youngsters should be licking their lips.