It’s a night that will go down in history. The final home game of Sporting’s greatest ever coach was not going to script when Phil Foden scored early and Manchester City threatened to overwhelm the nervy hosts.
But before half time Viktor Gyökeres made up for a bad early miss to score the equaliser then two goals in three minutes straight after the break from Maxi Araújo and Gyökeres again (penalty) put Sporting in control.
Erling Haaland missed a penalty to get City back into the game. At the other end of the pitch no such problems for Gyökeres who completed his hat-trick from the spot to make it three wins and a draw for Sporting in four Champions League games this season. Tom Kundert reports from Alvalade.
Sporting were without first-choice centre-back Gonçalo Inácio, Amorim selecting Matheus Reis as his replacement in an otherwise full-strength team. Much had been made of Manchester City’s injury crisis, Portugal international Rúben Dias among the absentees with 19-year-old Jahmai Simpson-Pusey making his Champions Legue debut, but with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gündogan, Jérémy Doku and Kyle Walker on the bench, it was difficult to feel too much sympathy for the side that has dominated English football in recent years. Former Sporting midfielder Matheus Nunes made a return to Alvalade.
The visitors made a dream start when Hidemasa Morita dawdled on the ball in a dangerous area in front of his box, Phil Foden picking his pocket and duly shooting past Sporting goalkeeper Franco Israel. Four minutes gone and City leading.
Sporting should have equalised immediately, some wonderful footwork and awareness by Pedro Gonçalves giving star striker Viktor Gyökeres a clear run on goal. The Swede sprinted towards the net completely unopposed with just Ederson to beat, but got his angles all wrong and only succeeded in scooping the ball in the grateful former Benfica goalkeeper’s hands.
The next 30 minutes were torrid for Sporting, with City all over the Portuguese team. The evidently nervous home players were constantly getting caught out trying to play their usual game of passing out patiently from the back, the two-man midfield was getting overwhelmed by City’s fluid passing and movement, and a lack of aggression from Lions was making things easy for the English champions.
Haaland forced Israel into a diving save, shot powerfully wide from a promising position, saw a goal-bound header cleared off the line by Gyökeres, then was denied again by Israel. Savinho and Bernardo Silva also came close and the Citizens’ superiority was so glaring Sporting fans must have feared a repeat of the 5-0 drubbing City administered in the same competition two years ago.
But the hosts made Guardiola’s men pay for failing to take their chances by grabbing an equaliser completely against the run of play. Geovany Quenda threaded a well weighted pass through to Gyökeres, who drove powerfully towards goal and this time beat Ederson.
Again City retook the initiative, but Sporting held on to go in all square at the break. Nothing we had seen in the first 45 minutes suggested the explosive start to the second half we were about to witness.
Amorim finally answered the journalist in English. He managed to exude class in every situation.pic.twitter.com/WEgDEoiYe4
— Sean Gillen (@SeanGillen9) November 6, 2024
Right from the off Sporting at last put together one of their trademark flowing moves, which involved nine passes and Gonçalves providing a perfect assist for Maxi Araújo to fire past Ederson 23 seconds after the restart. Sporting were leading and the only Manchester City player that had touched the ball in the second half was Ederson in his attempt to prevent the ball from entering the net.
The fans exploded in raptures of joy and it soon got even better. Francisco Trincão was released in the inside right position, sprinting into the box before being bundled over by Gvardiol, with the referee showing no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Gyökeres confidently smashed the penalty home, giving Sporting a two-goal lead.
Buoyed by the advantage and aided by Amorim’s half-time tweak of moving Trincão infield to stop Sporting’s midfield being overrun, the Lions were now matching their opponents and enjoying longer spells of possession.
Even so, City’s intricate passing remained dangerous. An excellent move in the 65th minute seemed certain to result in a goal for Bernardo, but Diomande made a crucial interception. Unfortunately for the centre-back, the ball ricocheted onto his arm, and after being alerted by VAR the referee awarded a penalty to City. Haaland stepped up but the Norwegian’s frustrating night continued as he sent his spot kick onto the top of the bar and over.
Sporting were happy to play on the break and the tactic almost resulted in a fourth goal in the 78th minute as Gyökeres again raced clear after more superb build-up play by Gonçalves. The Swede tried to take the ball around Ederson but got crowded out before he get a good connection on his shot.
The fourth goal did arrive soon afterwards. Substitute Geny Catamo showed tremendous persistence and ambition to weave his way into the box, and a clumsy challenge by Nunes led the referee to award a third penalty of the match. Gyökeres again placed the ball on the spot, smashing it low and hard into the net to complete his hat-trick – this after scoring four goals on Friday in the 5-1 victory over Estrela da Amadora.
The Sporting fans could enjoy the final minutes secure in the knowledge the victory would not escape them, the crackling atmosphere doing justice to an epic night of football in Lisbon.
What. A. Night. pic.twitter.com/VCPywP744u
— Tom Kundert (@PortuGoal1) November 5, 2024
As the final whistle blew the celebrations centred around one man as Rúben Amorim slowly walked around the stadium with his players for the last time as Sporting coach to be serenaded by the fans keen to show their appreciation for the extraordinary job he has done in turning the club around.
“Tonight it was written that it had to be like this,” said Amorim in the post-match press conference. “In the first half we didn’t play well, City missed chances, but the goal settled us down. Then in the second half from the first play a goal, from the second play a penalty, they missed a penalty... it was written that it had to be like this tonight.”
Sporting move up to second in the Champions League table. With a playoff position virtually guaranteed, the Lisbon outfit can legitimately aspire to finish in the top eight which would bring automatic qualification for the round of 16.
Sporting: Franco Israel, Matheus Reis (Jeramiah St. Juste, 74’), Ousmane Diomande, Zeno Debast, Geovany Quenda (Eduardo Quaresma, 85’), Hidemasa Morita (Daniel Bragança, 74’), Morten Hjulmand, Maxi Araújo (Geny Catamo, 74’), Francisco Trincão (Conrad Harder, 88’), Viktor Gyökeres, Pedro Gonçalves
Manchester City: Ederson Moraes, Rico Lewis, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Manuel Akanji, Josko Gvardiol, Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic (Kevin De Bruyne, 84’), Savinho (Jérémy Doku, 77’), Bernardo Silva (Ilkay Gündogan, 77’), Phil Foden, Erling Haaland
Goals:
[0-1] Phil Foden, 4’
[1-1] Viktor Gyökeres, 37’
[2-1] Maxi Araújo, 46’
[3-1] Viktor Gyökeres (pen), 49’
[4-1] Viktor Gyökeres (pen), 80’
