90min
·5. November 2024
90min
·5. November 2024
Manchester United-bound Ruben Amorim led Sporting CP to a historic 4-1 Champions League victory at home to Manchester City on Tuesday night.
Phil Foden gave Pep Guardiola's visitors the lead early on in a one-sided first half before the sought-after Viktor Gyokeres nabbed the first of three goals shortly before the interval. City came out for the restart but left their minds in the dressing room, conceding twice in the opening four minutes of the second half.
While Erling Haaland wasted the chance to get City back in the contest from 12 yards, Gyokeres completed his treble in the 81st minute with his second penalty of a night to remember for Amorim, who will not forget his final home game as Sporting coach in a hurry.
An emotionally charged Jose Alvalade ignored the referee's opening whistle, belting out a deafening hymn throughout the opening exchanges which only ended moments before Foden's fourth-minute opener.
Three sky blue players surrounded Hidemasa Morita in a pincer movement. Foden robbed the Japanese midfielder, tiptoeing to the edge of Sporting's box before drilling a low shot through a holographic attempt at a save from Franco Israel.
City had a suffocating monopoly of the first half, dominating possession and territory while squandering a glut of golden scoring chances. Erling Haaland was a surprisingly guilty culprit for the visitors. Sporting's number nine, Gyokeres wasted his side's only forward thrust of the opening half-hour, but made up for it with a crisp 38th-minute equaliser completely against the run of play.
Gyokeres' stabbed effort, which he bounced into the turf and over Ederson, was the hosts' first touch in City's penalty area.
After the break, Sporting needed just 20 seconds to weave their way forward from kick off, exchanging eight passes between seven players which ended with Maximiliano Araujo blasting past Ederson.
Guardiola had scarcely put down his water bottle by the time the referee whistled for a Sporting penalty. Francisco Trincao lured Josko Gvardiol into a needless barge, winning a spot kick which Gyokeres battered into the bottom corner, giving Sporting a two-goal cushion after five, breathless second-half minutes.
City belatedly regained their composure, invariably through the unwavering wriggling of Bernardo Silva. Amorim's former Portugal teammate snuck into Sporting's box with a crisp one-two before firing a shot which ricocheted onto Ousmane Diomande's raised arm. After a VAR review, City were awarded a very dubious penalty which Haaland clattered against the crossbar.
Gyokeres was given the opportunity to show more composure from 12 yards once again. Sporting were the beneficiaries of another soft decision, as the former Lisbon-based player, Matheus Nunes, was penalised for a light tug in the box. The remorseless Swede blasted in his third, thereby consigning Manchester City to a third consecutive defeat across all competitions.
Phil Foden started brightly for Manchester City / FILIPE AMORIM/GettyImages
GK: Ederson - 4/10 - Couldn't do much about any of the four close-range finishes, two of which were penalties.
RB: Rico Lewis - 4/10 - Popping up in midfield, Lewis' mischievous wandering often left a gaping hole in City's backline.
CB: Jahmai Simpson-Pusey - 5/10 - The 19-year-old had some bright moments on a tough night spent trying and failing to stop a striker of Gyokeres' calibre on the first start of his senior career.
CB: Manuel Akanji - 5/10 - Despite being part of a backline which shipped four goals, Akanji didn't have a horror show - that dishonour fell to his teammates.
LB: Josko Gvardiol - 3/10 - Boneheaded to charge into Trincao's back when he had only just entered the outer edges of City's penalty box.
CM: Mateo Kovacic - 4/10 - Never entirely convincing off the ball in an albeit difficult position.
CM: Bernardo Silva - 6/10 - The former Benfica player didn't look at home in Lisbon and he couldn't help his teammates overturn a five-minute blackout.
AM: Phil Foden - 6/10 - Free to roam around at his will. Foden caused havoc in the final third but was less effective when picking the ball up in the centre circle.
RW: Savinho - 3/10 - Had plenty of touches though not many were telling, struggled with the physicality of Araujo.
ST: Erling Haaland - 1/10 - Found different ways to be wasteful; lashing at shots, hurriedly rushing his efforts or making weak contact. And that was all before smashing the crossbar with his penalty.
LW: Matheus Nunes - 2/10 - The only significant impact Nunes made at his former home was giving away a penalty.
SUB: Jeremy Doku (76' for Savinho) - 5/10
SUB: Ilkay Gundogan (76' for Bernardo) - 5/10
SUB: Kevin De Bruyne (84' for Kovacic) - N/A
Subs not used: Scott Carson (GK), Stefan Ortega (GK), Josh Wilson-Esbrand, Kyle Walker, Nathan Ake, Jacob Wright, James McAtee, Nico O'Reilly.
Pep Guardiola - 3/10 - Utterly failed to shake his side out of their second-half slumber and never got a handle on Sporting's swift counters.
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