Ruben Amorim has had quite a spectacular last week. Before Sporting Lisbon’s match against Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League, Amorim was asked about what it would mean to win the fixture with respect to joining Manchester United as Erik Ten Hag’s successor in the coming days. The young Portuguese Manager replied, “If we (Sporting) win tomorrow, people will think the new Sir Alex Ferguson has arrived and that will be difficult to live up to.”
As of today, Sporting Lisbon under Ruben Amorim remains the only team across Europe to remain Unbeaten in all competitions. This includes the 4-1 thrashing of Manchester City that occurred on Tuesday night in Lisbon. Not only will Amorim leave Sporting Lisbon as an absolute hero, but will also be welcomed by his soon-to-be club Manchester United as one of their own. To be called as the next Sir Alex Ferguson though, is still a long long time away.
A 4-1 victory albeit very dominating against United’s city rivals is not all that Amorim pulled off yesterday. Manchester City were not at their best in any shape or form. Pep Guardiola’s dominance has been shaky as of late, and Ruben Amorim had the perfect opportunity to showcase just that. And he did.
With Viktor Gyökeres smashing a Hattrick for Sporting Lisbon, his stocks across Europe just grew massively, as if they already were not high enough. The Swedish striker is truly the best marksman in the world as of now and he showed his class in Europe once again against the best of the best putting an end to “the good player in a bad league” conversations surrounding him. With his Hattrick against Manchester City, he became the only the third player ever to have scored a Hattrick against a Pep Guardiola-led City side.
The first two were Lionel Messi in 2016 and Cristopher Nkunku in 2021. Pretty elite company to be a part of. This was also the first time under Pep Guardiola’s reign at Manchester City, that the current Premier League Champions have lost 3 games simultaneously across competitions. This 3-game losing streak includes their loss to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup, the Bournemouth loss in the Prem and the loss that Ruben Amorim handed them last night.
Ruben Amorim hasn’t even come to Manchester United yet, and he is already a favourite at the club. If there was any entrance test needed to join Manchester United Football Club, it would have been beating Manchester City in Europe. And Ruben Amorim has passed that test with flying colours. Can he truly have even half the impact that Sir Alex Ferguson had on Manchester United? Let us know your opinions in the comments below.
