UEFA Champions League Sporting CP 4-1 Manchester City:Gyökeres destroyed Man City which was riddled with injuries
- FlashFootball 2024/11/06 01:52
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Sporting CP marked the final home game of coach Ruben Amorim's reign in style with a 4-1 thrashing of Manchester City. Viktor Gyokeres' hat-trick saw them come from behind to maintain their superb start to the Champions League on Tuesday.
The Portuguese league leaders were outplayed for most of the first half and should have been behind by more than Phil Foden's early goal, but Gyokeres levelled it up before the break.
City were caught off guard at the start of the second half when Maximiliano Araujo finished a seamless play right from the start, and then Gyokeres extended Sporting's lead just minutes later from the penalty spot.
Erling Haaland had the chance to bring City back into the game, but he struck the crossbar with a penalty before Gyokeres wrapped it up for the hosts with another spot kick, sending the crowd at the Estadio José Alvalade into raptures.
Amorim, who'll be taking over at Manchester United on 11 November, leaves Sporting in a great position in the Champions League group phase with 10 points from four games. City's first defeat leaves them on seven points.
"When you lost 4-1 you can't say too much," City manager Pep Guardiola said. "We made a fantastic first half but we struggled to score, we missed the simple passes.
"The second half we were emotionally not stable enough."
Everyone was watching Amorim before the game started, because he'd accepted United's offer to take over from the sacked Erik Ten Hag.
The 39-year-old, who is highly rated, has won two Portuguese titles in four years with Sporting. They've also had a great start to this season's domestic championship, winning 10 out of 10 games.
However, when he faced Guardiola, he got a taste of what he can expect in the Premier League. His side could have been blown away by an injury-hit City side in the first half.
Foden scored after just four minutes when Sporting lost the ball inside their own half and the England forward advanced to smash his shot past Franco Israel.
Haaland, who wasn't at his best, had a few chances and Bernardo Silva also came close for City. Gyokeres messed up a great opportunity shortly after Foden's goal.
But Gyokores made no mistake when he was played through in the 38th minute by Geovany Quenda, scoring with a clever finish.
City didn't really get going in the second half and were a bit sloppy at the back, going on to concede four goals in the Champions League for the first time since 2016.
Araujo was set up by Pedro Gonçalves to score a great goal, then Josko Gvardiol fouled Francisco Trincão in the area, allowing Gyokeres to score from the penalty.
Gyokores made it three for City with a penalty, awarded for a foul by Matheus Nunes on Geny Catamo, to put Sporting second in the table.
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