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Ruben Amorim endeared himself to Manchester United fans before even arriving at Old Trafford by engineering a stunning 4-1 defeat of Manchester City with Sporting CP.
The Portuguese was taking charge of his final home match as Sporting boss before officially starting work as United’s head coach and watched as his side came from behind to thrash City in the Champions League.
City took an early lead through Phil Foden but Sporting hit back with a hat-trick that included two penalties from Viktor Gyokeres – who has been tipped to follow Amorim to United – and a strike by Maximiliano Araujo.
It was the first time City – for whom Erling Haaland missed a penalty – have lost three games in succession since 2018, excluding a later sequence in 2021 that included the Community Shield.
The evening began with Sporting in celebratory mood as they showed their appreciation for Amorim for a four-year spell in which he delivered two domestic titles.
They were celebrating again by the end, but only after overcoming a poor start in which City could have put the result beyond doubt themselves.
City won 5-0 on their last visit to the Jose Alvalade Stadium and may have fancied a repeat as they opened the scoring within four minutes.
Hidemasa Morita was robbed by Foden and punished as the England international fired through a poor attempt at a save by Franco Israel.
It was Foden’s eighth goal in his last nine Champions League starts and he nipped in to seize possession again soon after, but this time the attack ended when Haaland sliced wide.
Israel almost had another moment to forget when he dallied in possession but he cleared in the nick of time from under Haaland’s feet.
Despite City’s dominance, they were vulnerable to the counter-attack. They had a lucky escape after Rico Lewis gave the ball away and Gyokeres raced away from inside his own half only to shot tamely at Ederson.
It was a poor miss but the former Coventry striker was in the right place to hook clear off his own line from a Haaland header.
Haaland was also denied by a fine save from Israel when he met a Foden cross with a fierce volley and Bernardo Silva shot wide. City were made to rue their profligacy as Sporting snatched an equaliser before the break.
Again they were caught by a quick break as Geovany Quenda released Gyokeres and this time the Swede made no mistake as he outpaced teenager Jamhai Simpson-Pusey to score.
It sparked a remarkable turnaround, with Francisco Trincao shooting over just before the break and Sporting grabbing the lead within 20 seconds of the second half starting.
The hosts went straight upfield and Araujo finished emphatically after timing his run onto Pedro Goncalves’ neat through-ball to perfection.
Things immediately got worse for City as they conceded a penalty within a minute of the next restart when Josko Gvardiol bundled Trincao over in the box. Gyokeres thumped home the spot-kick.
City were offered a route back into the game when they were awarded a controversial penalty of their own by VAR after a Silva shot struck Ousmane Diomande’s arm. Haaland failed to capitalise as he smashed the ball against the crossbar.
The third penalty of the game was awarded 10 minutes from time when substitute Geny Catamo was knocked over by Matheus Nunes.
Gyokeres again finished emphatically and Amorim, who will face City again in a Manchester derby next month, could wave farewell to the home fans in good heart.
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