Ruben Amorim signs off in Lisbon by stuffing Man City in UCL as Man Utd striker target sizzles

Incoming Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim signed off in style at the Jose Alvalade Stadium as Sporting crushed Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.

Amorim will take charge of the Red Devils on March 11 after his final game in charge of Sporting this weekend at Braga, but he could not have wished for a better send-off in front of the fans.

It was City’s heaviest defeat since September 2020 and only the second time in his trophy-ladened spell at The Etihad that Pep Guardiola has been beaten in three consecutive games in a single season.

To cap a thoroughly depressing night for City, star striker Erling Haaland blasted a second-half penalty against the crossbar in a game that the visitors had led 1-0 through Phil Foden only to completely collapse.

Sporting’s own Scandanavian superstar Viktor Gyokeres, who has been heavily tipped to join Amorim at Old Trafford, did much of the damage with a superb hat-trick.

The Swede drove home a 38th-minute leveller to and then kept his cool after the break to beat Ederson twice from the spot.

The first of those penalties came in a disastrous start to the second half for City as they went behind seconds after the restart as Maximiliano Araujo raced onto a through ball and fired into the corner.

The victory was labelled the greatest of Amorim’s Sporting reign by media in the ground and gave United a taste of what to expect when the Portuguese takes over in just under a weeks’ time.

Indeed, Amorim is set to go toe-to-toe with Guardiola again when United head to The Etihad in the Premier League on December 15.

Viktor Gyokeres: Hat-trick hero ⚽️⚽️⚽️

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/a18KosuzgB

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 5, 2024

READ MORE ➡️ Five Man Utd players who could suffer from Ruben Amorim being appointed as next manager

Latest Man Utd news: Zirkzee out of order / Vinicius Junior links shot down

Manchester United striker Joshua Zirkzee is ‘bang out of order’ if claims that he turned up for pre-season training a stone overweight are true, according to Ally McCoist.

Earlier on Tuesday The Sun claimed that Erik ten Hag did not want Man Utd to sign Zirkzee during the summer, but INEOS chiefs pressed ahead with the pursuit regardless. The Dutch forward had been linked with other major clubs such as Arsenal and AC Milan, but he went on to join United for £36.5million (€43.5m / $47.4m).

The report stated that Ten Hag was left even more frustrated when learning that Zirkzee was ‘a stone overweight’.

It has supposedly taken the player months to shift the weight and get back closer to peak fitness, which partly explains why he has struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League so far. And it’s fair to say that McCoist is not impressed.

Meanwhile, Fabrizio Romano has stated that Manchester United and other big European clubs being linked to Vinicius Junior are “not even realistic” amid links to the Saudi Pro League, who “were prepared to do crazy things”.

IN FOCUS – United getting two-time Portuguese champion