New Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim’s Sporting side staged a stunning second-half comeback to beat Premier League champions Manchester City 4-1 thanks to a Victor Gökeres hat-trick.
On a night when the pre-match pressure was high on the hosts and their outgoing manager, City left with questions as they suffered a third successive defeat following defeats at Tottenham and Bournemouth.
Sporting move up to second in the Champions League table behind Liverpool as they continue their unbeaten start to the season, while City are sixth after losing for the first time in the league this season.
Amorim, in charge of United from this week, endured a blistering first half in his last home game as Phil Foden capitalized on the home side’s nervous start to give City the lead five minutes after Hidemasa Morita was sent off.
Phil Foden celebrates his opener against Sporting
Ruben Amorim made a perfect impression on Manchester United fans
Sporting could have been three goals down at half-time but pulled one back late in the half through Gökeres, who left a disappointing missed chance behind to bury Ederson’s side after feeding 17-year-old winger Jevani Cuenda.
The hosts were on the other side again, seemingly inspired by their outgoing manager’s half-time speech, as they took the lead 20 seconds after the restart through Maximiliano Araujo, before Gökeres extended their lead from the penalty spot four minutes later.
City could not deal with the direct dribble of Pedro Goncalves, who scored Sporting’s second goal, nor Trincao, who was fouled by Josco Guardiola for a spot-kick, as the former Wolves pair wreaked havoc in defense for a depleted Premier League side.
Erling Holland, on a quiet night for the striker, had a great chance to rescue City with 20 minutes to go after Ousmane Diomande was adjudged to have handled the ball following a challenge on Bernardo Silva, but the striker’s effort flew over the bar.
Sporting were forced to hold on after a burst of inspiration early in the second half, but Gökeres added to their incredible advantage from the spot to complete his hat-trick after Matheus Nunes fouled substitute Jenny Katamo.
City fans could be seen heading for the exits as Amorim scored his first win over Pep Guardiola, just a month before his first Manchester derby, on live television. Sky Sportson December 15.
Silva: “Manchester City is in a dark place”
“Manchester City” midfielder Bernardo Silva.
“It’s frustrating because we’re in a bit of a dark place right now. Everything seems to be going the wrong way.
“Even when we’re playing well, we’re not hitting our chances and we’re conceding too easily. We’ve got to look inside and see what we’re not doing well. And we’ve got to get better very quickly, otherwise it’s going to be very difficult. to come back from these losses.
“It’s football. It’s hard to find reasons for what’s going on with us. I don’t remember this team losing three games in a row right now .
“The good thing is that despite losing these three games, we are still in a good position, especially in the Premier League. After losing three games, we are still fighting for everything. But we have to be better, obviously.
“Our injured players have to come back because we need them and tonight just wasn’t good enough.”
Gyökeres. We should have scored more
Sporting striker Victor Gyokeres.
“It’s always nice to score and it’s even better to get a hat-trick. The most important thing was to win the game, so it was a brilliant night for us.
“We knew it was going to be difficult and we didn’t start well. We knew they were going to give us space and we could have scored more than four to be fair. They could have scored more.
“You have to raise your level when you play against better opponents. I tried to keep doing what I was doing.”
