‘Cristiano of managers’ – Thrilling Ruben Amorim verdict, but mammoth Man Utd task laid bare by pundit

Manchester United fans will be hoping Ruben Amorim is the ‘Cristiano Ronaldo of managers’ after his Sporting CP side stunned Manchester City in the Champions League, according to a European football expert.

Viktor Gyokeres scored a hat-trick as Sporting picked up a memorable 4-1 victory against City to move up into second place 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 yet more adulation from the club’s supporters.

Before the game, Amorim claimed that if Sporting won, he would be compared to Man Utd legend Sir Alex Ferguson, but if they lost heavily his stock would fall.

Instead, journalist James Horncastle has suggested Amorim could follow in the footsteps of Portuguese compatriot Ronaldo by earning a massive reputation at United.

“Go back to United’s history… who did they find at Sporting? They found Cristiano didn’t they. Have they found the Cristiano of managers?” he said on TNT Sports.

“That’s what they’ll all be hoping. On the basis of a performance like that, I think United fans have got every reason to be excited.

“In the same way that people were excited about Ten Hag when Ajax went to the Bernabeu and won, went to Juventus and won.”

However, Horncastle did warn Amorim that he faces a huge task to make United truly competitive once again.

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Amorim a great appointment but difficult task looms

“It’s very different for a manager when they go into Carrington and see what they’ve got,” he added. “That guy’s been working with this group of [Sporting] players for four years, knows them inside out.

“The club does everything that he wants. He thought he was going to get a call from Hugo Viana to be the next Man City coach. Hugo Viana knows Ruben Amorim inside out. That all helps him perform as a manager.

“United, he’s going in without pre-season, without a transfer window, inheriting a team that’s like Ajax reunited from four years ago.

“He’s not going to have Gyokeres there, [Francisco] Trincao there, [Morten] Hjulmand there. It’s a lot to expect [for] a seamless transition. But you can clearly see what he’s capable of.

“Not only tonight, but the fact Sporting are perfect. Won every game in the league so far, and as much as people diminish Portuguese football look what it’s done to Man City.”

When asked about the famous win, 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 an amazing night, a good moment. We all deserve it here. We started so low four years ago, an amazing day.”

Amorim’s half-time team talk clearly worked as Sporting came out firing after the break and scored twice in three minutes to put themselves 3-1 up.

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 a bit the pressure, closed more in the middle. Let Trincao cover Kovacic. We improve. Then 3-1 all the environment pushes us to the end of the game.”

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Man Utd news: City star in reluctant praise; striker ‘bang out of order’

City ace Bernardo Silva has reluctantly praised Amorim but added that the Portuguese pair will soon become ‘rivals’.

Silva said tactically Amorim is ‘really good’, while his Sporting team has been consistent as they have always been on an ‘upward’ trajectory.

You can read what the playmaker had to say in full here.

Meanwhile, Ally McCoist has labelled Joshua Zirkzee ‘bang out of order’ if claims that he turned up to United ‘a stone overweight’ are true.

It has been suggested that the striker has struggled to shed the extra weight, while Amorim’s predecessor Erik ten Hag ‘didn’t want’ to sign him, either.

McCoist and one of his fellow pundits also cast doubt over the likelihood of Zirkzee actually being overweight when securing such an important transfer.