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Manchester United fans are hoping Ruben Amorim is the ‘Cristiano Ronaldo of managers’ after his Sporting CP side stunned Manchester City in the Champions League, a European football expert has said.
Viktor Gyokeres scored a hat-trick as Sporting recorded a memorable 4-1 win against City to move up to second in the Champions League standings. It was Amorim’s last game in charge of Sporting at the Jose Alvalade Stadium, and he signed off in style to earn even more admiration from the club’s supporters.
Before the match, Amorim claimed that if Sporting won he would be compared to him Man Utd legend Sir Alex Ferguson, but if they lost badly his stock would fall.
Instead, journalist James Horncastle has suggested that Amorim could follow in the footsteps of Portuguese compatriot Ronaldo by building a huge reputation at United.
“Go back to United’s history… who did they find at Sporting? They found Cristiano, right? Have they found the Cristiano of managers?” he continued TNT Sports.
‘That’s what they’re all hoping for. Based on a performance like that, I think United fans have every reason to be excited.
“Just like people were excited about Ten Hag when Ajax went to the Bernabeu and won, went to Juventus and won.”
However, Horncastle warned Amorim that he faces a huge task to make United truly competitive again.
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“It’s very different for a manager when they go to Carrington and see what they have,” he added. “That guy has been working with this group of (sports) players for four years and knows them inside and out.
“The club does everything he wants. He thought he would get a call from Hugo Viana as the next coach of Manchester City. Hugo Viana knows Ruben Amorim inside and out. All that helps him to perform as a manager.
“United leaves without preparation, without a transfer period, and inherits a team that resembles the reunited Ajax of four years ago.
“He won’t have Gyokeres there, (Francisco) Trincao there, (Morten) Hjulmand there. Much is expected of a seamless transition. But you can clearly see what he is capable of.
“Not just tonight, but the fact that Sporting is perfect. “I’ve won every game in the league so far, and as much as people belittle Portuguese football, look what it’s done to Man City.”
When asked about the famous victory, Amorim himself said: “It was written. The first half was very tough. We were very lucky. In the second half we scored twice in the first minutes. The environment, everything helped us.
“It was a great evening, a beautiful moment. We all deserve it here. We started so low four years ago, a great day.”
Amorim’s half-time team talk clearly worked as Sporting came out firing after the break, scoring twice in three minutes to put them ahead 3-1.
But the tactician did not want to take all the credit as he added: “(We were) lucky. 2-1 and 3-1 was nothing tactical. It was so fast.
“We changed the pressure a bit, closed it more in the middle. Have Trincao cover Kovacic. We improve. Then the entire environment pushes us to the end of the match with 3-1.”
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City chief executive Bernardo Silva has reluctantly praised Amorim, but added that the Portuguese pair will soon become ‘rivals’.
Silva said Amorim is ‘really good’ tactically, while his Sporting team has been consistent as they have always been on an ‘upward’ trajectory.
You can read what the game creator had to say in full here.
In the meantime, Ally McCoist has labeled Joshua Zirkzee as ‘out of order’ if the claims that he joined United ‘a stone overweight’ are true.
It is suggested that the striker has struggled to shed the extra weight, with Amorim’s predecessor Erik ten Hag also ‘didn’t want’ to sign him.
McCoist and one of his fellow experts also doubted the likelihood that Zirkzee would actually be overweight in securing such an important transfer.