Sporting 4-1 Manchester City: Viktor Gyokere’s hat-trick as Ruben Amorim’s side beat Man City

Incoming Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim saved one of his biggest sporting victories for his final home game to condemn Manchester City to a third successive defeat for the first time since April 2018.

It was City’s heaviest defeat since September 2020 and only the second time in his trophy-laden spell at City that Pep Guardiola has been beaten in three consecutive games in a single season.

To cap a thoroughly depressing night for City, star striker Erling Haaland blasted a second-half penalty against the crossbar.

Sporting’s own Scandinavian superstar Viktor Gyokeres – formerly of Coventry City – did much of the damage with a superb hat-trick.

The Swede headed home a 38th-minute equalizer for Phil Foden’s early opener and then kept his cool after the break to beat Ederson twice from the spot.

The first of those penalties came in a disastrous start to the second half for City as they went behind seconds after the restart when Maximiliano Araujo latched on to a through ball and fired into the corner.

Sporting regulars in the media stand said the win was the biggest single game of Amorim’s reign, which has one more game to go, at Braga on Sunday.

The fear in this part of Lisbon must be that the momentum of seven consecutive wins in all competitions cannot be sustained. Not that it dampened the celebrations at the final whistle.

As for Amorim, he joked on Monday that a win could mean United fans start comparing him to Sir Alex Ferguson.

It can be a stretch. But there couldn’t have been a better way to push a huge amount of credit into the bank.