LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Call him the new Alex Ferguson.
Ruben Amorim endeared himself to fans of Manchester United, the team where he’ll soon be coach, by leading current club Sporting Lisbon to a 4-1 victory over Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Ahead of his final home game in charge of Sporting after more than four years, Amorim quipped that United fans “will think that the new Alex Ferguson has arrived” if he was able to lead Sporting to victory over City — one of the favorites for the European title.
While that might be too strong — after all, Ferguson is regarded as one of soccer’s greatest managers after his trophy-laden spell at Old Trafford from 1986-2013 — United supporters might be thinking they finally have a coach who can bring the good times back to a club that has lost its way since Ferguson’s departure more than a decade ago.
Someone who can take on — and beat — City’s esteemed manager Pep Guardiola, too.
“He’s so much better than me at the moment,” Amorim said, “but I believe a lot in my new club. We will start from a low level, and we will improve the team, the club.”
Especially if Amorim eventually brings Viktor Gyokeres with him to Manchester.
The Sweden striker led Sporting’s fightback from a goal down at Estadio Jose Alvalade by netting a hat trick — including two penalties — in a stunning result in the fourth round of league games in the revamped competition. That’s 23 goals in 17 games for Gyokeres this season.
Amorim has already said he wouldn’t look to sign Gyokeres in January but expects the striker to be heading to a bigger team at the end of the season.
“Viktor has to stay until the end of the season,” Amorim said, “and then his life maybe is going somewhere else.”
Sporting fans unfurled a huge banner ahead of kickoff bearing the message “Obrigado (thank you) Ruben Amorim,” five days after the 39-year-old coach signed to become the new United manager. He will take charge of United from Monday, allowing him to complete his commitments with Sporting, which included the match against City and concludes with a trip to Braga on Sunday.
Amorim was thrown in the air by Sporting’s players after the game and walked around the field with the team in a farewell to fans.
“Of course we will miss him a lot, we have done amazing things together,” Gyokeres said of Amorim, who has led Sporting to two Portuguese league titles in his four full seasons at the club.
“We have to look forward to the next challenge ahead of us, but first of all we have another game in Sunday.”
In ending City’s record 26-game unbeaten run in the Champions League, Sporting also consigned the Premier League champions to a third straight loss in all competitions — and that hasn’t happened since April 2018.
City was defeated by Tottenham in the English League Cup on Wednesday and by Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.
Erling Haaland missed a penalty in the 69th minute for City when the score was 3-1. City had taken the lead through Phil Foden in the fourth minute.
“It was written, because the first half was very tough on us,” Amorim said. “We were very lucky, but then the second half we scored twice in the first minutes and the environment, everything, helped us. lt was an amazing night.”
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