Ruben Amorim will lead United in the next Manchester derby, scheduled for December 15. Meanwhile, fans of the richest English team will be able to look forward to the resounding memory of the match that this Portuguese coach directed this Tuesday at the Alvalade Stadium against his next archrival, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, on matchday four of the Champions League. The Sporting fans will remember it as an unforgettable farewell. Because Sporting received the first goal and fought back with contagious determination. Stunned by the response, unable to respond with the team plagued by significant losses, especially in defense, City suffered one of the worst defeats that a Guardiola team has received in the Champions League: 4-1.
4
Franco Israel, Zeno Debast, Matheus Reis (Jeremiah St. Juste, min. 74), Ousmane Diomande, Geovany Quenda (Eduardo Quaresma, min. 84), Morten Hjulmand, Maximiliano Araújo (Geny Catamo, min. 74), Hidemasa Morita ( Daniel Bragança, min. 74), Pote, Trincão (Conrad Harder, min. 88) and Viktor Gyökeres
1
Ederson, Rico Lewis, Josko Gvardiol, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Manuel Akanji, Matheus Nunes, Savinho (Jérémy Doku, min. 76), Mateo Kovacic (Kevin De Bruyne, min. 84), Bernardo Silva (Ilkay Gündogan, min. 76 ), Phil Foden and Erling Haaland
Goals
0-1 min. 3: Foden. 1-1 min. 37: Viktor Gyokeres. 2-1 min. 45: Maximiliano Araujo. 3-1 min. 48: Viktor Gyokeres. 4-1 min. 79: Viktor Gyokeres
Referee Daniel Siebert
yellow cards
Kovacic (min. 44), Pedro Goncalves (min. 54), Sávio (min. 72), Maximiliano Araujo (min. 72), Matheus (min. 78), Morten Hjulmand (min. 87)
The one-on-one between Viktor Gyokeres and Simpson-Pusey, a very young centre-back from the City youth team, foreshadowed what was to come. The powerful Swedish striker unmarked himself into the void, bodyed his fragile marker, and defined with a foreshortened shot over Ederson. City’s dominance in the first half was barely reflected in a 1-1 lead at half-time. After the interval, Sporting caused the gale. City pressed without enthusiasm and Pedro Gonçalves measured the times and enabled Araújo, Trincao and Gyokeres. In four minutes City conceded 2-1 and 3-1. The Swede made a hat trick.The rout was unstoppable for City’s patchy defense, unable to counter the blows, not even in the penalty missed by Haaland.
“It destabilized us emotionally to play so well in the first half and find ourselves 3-1 down two minutes after the break,” Guardiola explained. “With the goals, the Sporting players felt very happy in the transitions, they felt confident, strong. Football is a game of emotions. It is not easy to swallow. But here I am! We knew this would be a difficult season, but it is what it is, and I love it, I like it, I want it that way. I want to face it. Life is like that.”
“The team is in a dark place right now,” lamented Bernardo Silva after the game. “I don’t agree with Bernardo!” Guardiola protested. “Today we played well, it’s just that these things happen. Bournemouth day [el sábado pasado, 2-1 en el Vitality Stadium] We played badly, but not today, today we created many chances and we didn’t convert them. In sport these things happen and there is no point in looking for many explanations or complaining.”
City is going through a plague of injuries that has led to a crisis of results. They had just lost in the League Cup against Tottenham and in the League against Bournemouth. Since April 2018 they had not lost three games in a row and that time they lost against very powerful teams: a Champions League match with Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool and a Manchester derby.
Liverpool, 4; Leverkusen, 0
The most emotional evening of the day was observed in the north of England. Xabi Alonso returned to Anfield on Guy Fawkes Night, a popular holiday celebrated with bonfires and fireworks. The roar in neighboring Stanley Park was in time with the You’ll Never Walk Aloneand the applause that the Basque midfielder received. Supreme example of the Spanish school of midfielders and undisputed figure for Liverpool, champion of the Champions League in 2005, Alonso once again crossed the locker room tunnel that he crossed so many times while consolidating his status as a teacher. A tough tactical battle awaited the Bayer Leverkusen coach. After an extremely calculated first half, of selective pressure and cautious possessions by both teams, Leverkusen relaxed the pressure in a mistake and succumbed to a pass from Curtis Jones and a lunge from Luis Díaz. It was the 61st minute. It was the beginning of the end.
The current Bundesliga champion broke against Luis Díaz. Liverpool’s Colombian winger offered a true piece of football. Driving, passing, unmarking, definitions. He hat trick, catapult of the final 4-0, rewards a star.
