Rúben Amorim attempted to play down expectations at Manchester United, insisting he is not yet on the level of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, despite leading current club Sporting CP to a 4-1 victory over City in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Amorim, who will take over as Man United’s new manager on Nov. 11, endeared himself to fans of his new club by leading his soon-to-be former side to a stunning win in Lisbon.
Ahead of his final home game in charge of Sporting after more than four years, Amorim had quipped that United fans “will think that the new Sir Alex Ferguson has arrived” if he was able to lead Sporting to victory over City — one of the favorites for the European title.
While that might be too strong — after all, Ferguson is regarded as one of soccer’s greatest managers after his trophy-laden spell at Old Trafford from 1986-2013 — United supporters might be thinking they finally have a coach who can bring the good times back to a club that have lost their way since Ferguson’s departure more than a decade ago.
Someone who can take on — and beat — City’s esteemed manager Pep Guardiola, too.
“He’s so much better than me at the moment,” Amorim said, “but I believe a lot in my new club. We will start from a low level, and we will improve the team, the club.”
Especially if Amorim eventually brings Viktor Gyökeres with him to Manchester.
The Sweden striker led Sporting’s fightback from a goal down at Estadio Jose Alvalade by netting a hat trick — including two penalties — in a stunning result in the fourth round of league games in the revamped competition. That’s 23 goals in 17 games for Gyökeres this season.
Amorim has already said he wouldn’t look to sign Gyökeres in January but expects the striker to be heading to a bigger team at the end of the season.
“Viktor has to stay until the end of the season,” Amorim said, “and then his life maybe is going somewhere else.”
Sporting fans unfurled a huge banner ahead of kickoff bearing the message “Obrigado (thank you) Ruben Amorim,” five days after the 39-year-old coach signed to become the new United manager. His move to Old Trafford was delayed, allowing him to complete his commitments with Sporting, which included the match against City and concludes with a trip to Braga on Sunday.
His first game in charge will be against Ipswich Town after the international break and he will be up against Guardiola and City again in December. He knows the challenge will be a bigger one to that in Lisbon where he says he has enjoyed the “best phase of his life.”
“When I’m at the next club, the approach will have to be different. Not much is taken from here because we will have to play differently in the future,” he said.
“Both are historic clubs. It will certainly be a different game.”
He has already vowed not to read the newspapers once he arrives in England.
“I’m certainly not going to read anything for six months. I did the same at Sporting. I’m not going to read anything or have access to anything. It’s the only way to do my job.” he said.
Amorim was thrown in the air by Sporting’s players after the game and walked around the field with the team in a farewell to fans.
“Of course we will miss him a lot, we have done amazing things together,” Gyökeres said of Amorim, who has led Sporting to two Portuguese league titles in his four full seasons at the club.
“We have to look forward to the next challenge ahead of us, but first of all we have another game in Sunday.”
And on the future for Sporting, he said his replacement will inherit a strong foundation.
“The coach who comes will have a good legacy. Above all, there will be a structured club, which has won in recent years, and an intelligent audience that will realise that it will be necessary to give the next coach time to fine-tune some things.”
In ending City’s record 26-game unbeaten run in the Champions League, Sporting also consigned the Premier League champions to a third straight loss in all competitions — and that hasn’t happened since April 2018.
Erling Haaland missed a penalty in the 69th minute for City when the score was 3-1. City had taken the lead through Phil Foden in the fourth minute.
“It was written, because the first half was very tough on us,” Amorim said. “We were very lucky, but then the second half we scored twice in the first minutes and the environment, everything, helped us. lt was an amazing night.”
Information from The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.