Ruben Amorim has a chance to quickly endear himself to Manchester United fans when he comes face to face with Pep Guardiola.
Amorim, who is serving a notice period at Sporting Lisbon before taking up his new role as United head coach, faces Guardiola’s Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday.
“If the result is negative, expectations will drop. If we win, they will think that the new Alex Ferguson has arrived,” Amorim told a news conference ahead of the game at Estadio Jose Alvalade.
He knows the scrutiny will be on him even before he officially takes over at Old Trafford on Nov. 11. And while victory against City will do nothing for United, it will be an early endorsement of the club’s decision to fire Erik ten Hag last week and replace him with Amorim, 39, a two-time Portuguese title-winning coach who has been mentioned in connection with some of the biggest teams in Europe in recent years.
Victory against City would fuel belief among United fans that they finally have a coach capable of challenging Guardiola’s Premier League dominance after Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ten Hag all failed to do so.
Guardiola’s own future as City’s head coach is uncertain, with his contract up at the end of the season and no indication yet whether he intends to extend.
Convincing him to sign a new deal could become the responsibility of another man currently based in Lisbon, Sporting’s outgoing sporting director Hugo Viana, who is headed to City in January.
Viana’s appointment as successor to Txiki Begiristain, who will step down from his role at City at the end of the season, prompted speculation Amorim could be a candidate to replace Guardiola if or when he walks away.
But he will instead turn up on the other side of Manchester, where he will try to bring the good times back to the 20-time English champion.
Amorim is United’s sixth permanent manager since Ferguson retired in 2013. None have come close to winning the title during a period of dominance for City, which has been crowned champion six times in eight years under Guardiola.
That is why United fans will likely pay close attention to Tuesday’s match and the tactical battle of wits between Amorim and Guardiola.
Given United’s successes against City in the past have generally been by virtue of counter-attacking soccer, it will be fascinating to see if Amorim is prepared to take a more progressive approach in what will be his final game in front of Sporting’s home fans.
It is potentially a good time to face City, with Guardiola’s squad weakened by injuries to key players and shaken by back-to-back losses.
“What interests me is winning, saying a good farewell to Estadio Alvalade. What I want is to make the fans and my players happy,” Amorim said.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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