Manchester City thumped by Sporting in United-bound Ruben Amorim’s home farewell

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 Lisbon.

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