Ruben Amorim bid the Jose Alvalade Stadium farewell on Tuesday night and it was a performance he would have dreamt of.
As Manchester City came to town in Lisbon in the Champions League, ultimately Pep Guardiola was left embarrassed by the Portuguese champions as Ruben Amorim coached his side to a 4-1 win.
This was a significant win, being City’s worst defeat since 2016 and also a result better than any Erik ten Hag had against Guardiola.
To thrash Manchester United’s city rivals in such convincing fashion is the best possible farewell to Sporting and hello to the Old Trafford faithful who may have been watching an Amorim team for the first time.
It was the performance Amorim would have been wishing for on the eve of the game – after the game two of his prized assets at Sporting have spoken out on his exit.
Both Viktor Gyokeres and Geovany Quenda discuss Ruben Amorim
Sporting’s impressive 4-1 thrashing of City saw Viktor Gyokeres score a hat-trick, which had United fans reacting on X.
However post-game, it was Gyokeres who was reacting as he spoke out on the departure of Amorim as quoted by Portuguese outlet Mais Futebol.
“We will miss Amorim a lot as well as the other elements of the technical team. We achieved amazing things together, but we have to look at each other. We still have another game on Saturday.”
Joining Gyokeres in reacting was United target Geovany Quenda who was also quoted by Mais Futebol.
“I will always thank him, he is a great coach, but now it is to continue working without him and let’s do it.”
The praise from both these star players, both of whom United have had an interest in, paints the picture of how Amorim’s players feel about him.
Manchester United fans cannot use Sporting Lisbon vs Man City as a marker
Many United fans will have watched Amorim’s football for the very first time on Tuesday and it was a game which will have converted even the most stubborn deniers into Amorim fans.
It would be very easy to see the scoreline and be carried away – however, it is very important that this result is not used by fans as a measuring stick for Amorim’s early days at United.
So much will change from the performance Sporting put in and what Amorim will do at United – with the 27% possession, not something which would go down well with Ineos as Amorim likely knows himself.
The style of football at Old Trafford is bound to evolve from what we saw with Sporting and the players at his disposal are also very different.
Patience will be needed if we are to see Amorim take the club back to where it belongs.
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