Sporting CP beating Manchester City 4-1 on Tuesday evening threw open a whole load of narratives.
Viktor Gyökeres praise went off into the stratosphere after his hat-trick, and his performance overshadowed Erling Haaland, with the Manchester City striker missing a penalty.
Rúben Amorim coming up against Pep Guardiola just before the former moves to Manchester United appeared like the work of football overlords, and the Sporting manager was in huge demand after the match.
Speaking to media from around Europe, Amorim insisted the result didn’t mean anything in itself and was more of an anomaly than anything else, making sure to repeatedly praise Guardiola and Manchester City.
He insisted repeatedly that none of it meant anything with regards to Manchester United.
Amorim also spoke to the Brazilian version of TNT, with it put to him that Matheus Reis, who moved to Sporting in 2021 and has progressed under the manager, had earlier explained the relationship between the two has been life-changing.
In response, TNT quote Amorim as saying: “I have full knowledge that I’m neither close nor far from the best, technically or tactically. I think that’s my great calling, let’s say. I like to help my players, I was a player, I went through a lot, and I treat them as human beings first and then we go to the rest, football is the rest. And so I’m much happier with this compliment than anything like inventing football and new techniques and tactics, and so I’m really very flattered by Reis’ words.”
Again insisting the result meant nothing for Manchester United, Amorim explained there’s more of an obligation to attack at the Red Devils: “No, I think, as I said, the result is deceiving. We are a team outside of the big five, and we are allowed to play like this. Defensively, waiting for the counter-attack.
“When you go to Manchester United, whether it takes a while or not, you have to face these teams, and it’s a completely different story. And so that’s the work we want to do there, which is not defending all the time. Manchester United have to face these clubs (head on), and so it’s going to be a completely different story. There will be rivalry, I’m not one for big conflicts, I’m defending the team to the maximum, but let’s see what happens.”
