When does a blip become a slump? Pep Guardiola was asked this before the game and pointed to Manchester City’s supreme run of success. Now, their last three matches have been lost for the first time since April 2018 so Saturday’s trip to Brighton is certainly about arresting the slide.
Two years ago, Rúben Amorim’s Sporting were cuffed aside 5-0 in a grand City show of power football. This last home match of Manchester United’s incoming manager ended in him becoming to sections of the Red Devils faithful, at least, the “new Ferguson”, as he prophesied would occur should their cross-town rival be downed.
After Viktor Gyökeres starred with a hat-trick, Amorim’s evening closed with a deserved lap of honour and his players giving him the bumps. He leaves Sporting driving their Champions League destiny on 10 points, while City are stuck on seven, and all with the 3-4-3 shape he brings to United when starting work on 11 November.
Sweet Caroline rang out, the José Alvalade was below a sell-out and Amorim’s home swansong had a terrible start. Phil Foden pilfered possession from Hidemasa Morita. Sporting backed off, so City’s playmaker ranged into the area and fired beyond Franco Israel.
After City’s reverses to Tottenham and Bournemouth this was welcome succour. But fragility was evident in a Gyökeres raid that took him clear – and this was an augury, too, of what unfolded. Yet as Ederson advanced the Swede hoped to chip the goalkeeper, fluffed this and the ball was collected.
Borussia Dortmund left it late to secure a 1-0 win over Sturm Graz courtesy of Donyell Malen's strike four minutes from time. The Dutch forward came off the bench in the 67th minute and combined with Serhou Guirassy before firing home to earn the hosts their third win from four games.
Thilo Kehrer stabbed home from close range in the 86th minute to lift Monaco into third, one place above Dortmund in the 'league phase' table as they earned a 1-0 win over Bologna. Both sides saw goals disallowed in the first half but the visitors got the winner to leave Bologna without a goal in four matches.
Dusan Vlahovic's second-half penalty cancelled out Jonathan David's opener as Juventus drew 1-1 with Lille. The French side threatened to follow up their home win over Real Madrid when David finished a quick counter, but Vlahovic levelled after Francisco Conçeicao was brought down in the area.
In the early games, Dinamo Zagreb earned a second consecutive victory in the competition with an emphatic 4-1 win over bottom club Slovan Bratislava, while PSV picked up their first Champions League win this season with a 4-0 home thrashing of Girona. PA Media/Reuters
Guardiola has talked about his walking wounded and how this is all part of this season’s challenge. With Rúben Dias and John Stones on the injury list, the manager handed Jahmai Simpson-Pusey a full debut, 24 hours after the defender turned 19, and Gyökeres’s next act was to go at him along a left channel, the youngster robust enough to see the challenge off.
Before this, City threatened via two Foden corners and two Erling Haaland efforts. The first drew a flying Israel save, the second blazed off the Norwegian’s weaker right foot and wide.
City had Portugal’s champions in a familiar grip: hogging the ball and forcing them to live off scraps. When Israel dawdled playing out from the back, Haaland nearly mugged him. The next time Sporting tried, Savinho nicked in, and City had them by the jugular in a sequence that featured another Foden corner from which Josko Gvardiol went close.
As impressive was a back-to-front move that had Mateo Kovacic scheming along halfway and Rico Lewis slipping inside from right-back to set Savinho galloping through. Result: a cross meant for Haaland and one more Foden corner. His next was floated on to Haaland’s head and though he beat the airborne Israel the ball was cleared off the line.
City were a relentless force cowing their host with percussive pass play. Foden popped up down the left and swept in a delivery that Haaland swiped at on the volley and Israel repelled. The 72.9% ball-retention rate was the contest in microcosm. City were in shooting practice mode. Bernardo Silva shimmied through and unloaded to beat Israel but missed.
Gyökeres then broke – from Geovany Quenda’s pass – and on reaching the area held off Simpson‑Pusey and fashioned a delightful sand-wedge over Ederson for 1-1. A carbon copy nearly arrived in Sporting’s next break beyond City’s high line but Francisco Trincão’s composure failed and the forward blasted wide.
City melted as, from virtually the second-half kick-off, Maximiliano Araújo got in behind from Pedro Gonçalves’s ball and beat Ederson. The visitors, stunned, were soon shocked. Gvardiol was the culprit, foolishly upending Trincão and the referee, Daniel Siebert, awarded a penalty. Gyökeres smashed this past Ederson and the stadium was a racket of noise.
For the first time in a long time City were being asked questions and they struggled to find answers. Even when Lewis drew a free-kick on the edge of Sporting’s area Foden’s offering did not beat the wall. Guardiola, in the technical area, was cast as impotent, while Amorim, on the other side, as the coach of cunning and control.
City never write themselves off but the conveyor belt of chances had stopped until Silva claimed a penalty when challenged by Ousmane Diomande – via Siebert being ordered by the VAR to the sideline screen. To his anguish, and in the face of copious home whistles, Haaland crashed the spot-kick on to the bar.
From here, a long way back for those in blue and a famous final salvo on Sporting turf the prize for Amorim. The result was sealed when Matheus Nunes felled Geny Catamo and Gyökeres scored Sporting’s second penalty.
It proved to be City’s biggest defeat since a 5-2 reverse to Leicester in 2020 and for Amorim the finest of send-offs.
As Gyökeres said: “We will miss him a lot. We’ve done amazing things together. We will miss him and the other guys in the staff who will leave. We have to look forward and attack the next challenge ahead of us.”
