Man City beaten by Sporting as Viktor Gyokeres gives Ruben Amorim perfect Utd farewell

Ruben Amorim endeared himself to Manchester United fans before he even arrived at Old Trafford by masterminding a stunning 4-1 defeat of Manchester City with Sporting Lisbon.

The Portuguese was taking charge of his final home game as Sporting boss before officially starting work as United head coach and saw his side come from behind to beat City in the Champions League.

City took an early lead through Phil Foden, but Sporting hit back with a hat-trick including two penalties from Viktor Gyokeres – who should follow Amorim to United – and a strike from Maximiliano Araujo.

It was the first time City – for whom Erling Haaland missed a penalty – had lost three games in a row since 2018, excluding a subsequent streak in 2021 which included the Community Shield.

The evening began with Sporting in a celebratory mood as they showed their appreciation to Amorim for a four-year period in which they won two national titles.

They were celebrating again in the end, but only after overcoming a poor start in which City could have put the result beyond doubt themselves.

City won 5-0 on their last visit to the Jose Alvalade Stadium and might have wanted a repeat by opening the score inside four minutes.

Hidemasa Morita was robbed by Foden and punished as the England international shot thanks to a poor save attempt from Franco Israel.

It was Foden's eighth goal in his last nine Champions League starts and he regained the ball soon after, but this time the attack ended when Haaland sliced ​​wide.

Israel almost had another moment to forget when they lost possession, but cleared just in time under Haaland's feet.

Despite City's dominance, they were vulnerable to the counter-attack.

They had a lucky escape after Rico Lewis gave the ball away and Gyokeres broke away from his own half to meekly shoot at Ederson.

It was a bad miss, but the former Coventry striker was in the right place to clear his own line after a Haaland header.

Haaland was also denied by a fine save from Israel when he met a Foden cross with a fierce volley and Bernardo Silva shot wide.

City must have regretted their profligacy as Sporting equalized before the break.

Once again they were caught out on a fast break when Geovany Quenda released Gyokeres and this time the Swede made no mistake as he outpaced teenager Jamhai Simpson-Pusey to score.

That sparked a remarkable turnaround, with Francisco Trincao shooting just before the break and Sporting taking the lead within 20 seconds of the start of the second half.

The hosts went straight onto the field and Araujo finished emphatically after timing his run to perfection from Pedro Goncalves' neat ball.

Things immediately got worse for City who conceded a penalty less than a minute into the next restart when Josko Gvardiol bundled out Trincao in the box. Gyokeres scored the kick.

City were presented with a way back into the match when they were awarded a controversial penalty by VAR after a Silva shot hit Ousmane Diomande's arm. Haaland failed to capitalize as he smashed the ball against the crossbar.

The third penalty of the match was awarded 10 minutes from time when substitute Geny Catamo was brought down by Matheus Nunes.

Gyokeres finished emphatically again and Amorim, who will face City again in a Manchester derby next month, could bid farewell to the home fans heartily.