Ruben Amorim shows magic touch at Sporting farewell – and hints ...

Perhaps the only minor misstep on a note-perfect night for Ruben Amorim was when he began to walk towards the tunnel after hugging his players and shaking the hands of the match officials for his last game in charge of Sporting Lisbon.

In the vibrant afterglow of a stunning 4-2 comeback victory away to Braga, Amorim momentarily forgot to acknowledge the 3,000 or so travelling Sporting fans high up at the Municipal Stadium. He soon realised and swivelled back, giving those jubilant followers what they had made the 230-mile (360km) trip north from the capital for: a celebratory farewell from the man who had fulfilled their dreams.

In the press conference afterwards, Amorim said a movie about his four and a half years at the club could be made given the tale of success. He steered Sporting to a first Portuguese title in almost two decades, then another, and now leaves them on 11 wins in a row to start a campaign which may end in their first back-to-back championships since the 1950s.

As a final scene, this match provided a stirring climax before the credits rolled. Back at Braga — the club where he did such a compelling job in two months as their head coach, moving up from managing the reserves, that Sporting decided to pay the €10million (£8.3m; $10.7m) release clause to hire him in March 2020 — Amorim had to dig deep into his well of resilience, inspiration and serendipity.

Braga, now managed by Carlos Carvalhal, once of Swansea City and Sheffield Wednesday, claimed a two-goal lead at the interval. Captain Ricardo Horta, who played under Amorim when he was in charge of Braga, scored both, the first aided by a poor clearance by Zeno Debast, the second at the end of a slick counter.

As the pitchside cannisters shot flames into the air and thousands in Braga red went potty, Amorim crouched on his haunches staring out across the grass, and it was hard not to think his time was coming to a sour end.

Ariana Azevedo, a broadcaster for Antena 1, a Portuguese national radio station, had seen this story before, though. “Sporting will win this,” she insisted after watching Amorim hurry to the dressing room.

At half-time, Amorim replaced Debast with Jerry St Juste and then, only 10 minutes into the second half, made a double substitution by sending on Hidemasa Morita and Conrad Harder. Morita scored with his first touch, hammering in after St Juste had hit the post with a header from Geovany Quenda’s corner.

Having swapped Geny Catamo for an injured Pedro Goncalves in the first half, Amorim made his final substitution with 10 minutes to go, putting on defender Goncalo Inacio.

Three minutes later, Morten Hjulmand struck a screamer from 25 yards to level the contest. When the game restarted, Amorim was so engrossed he edged onto the pitch clapping and pointing. In the 90th minute, Harder delivered a precise finish from the edge of the area to provoke ecstasy and green flares in the away end. Amorim was mobbed by his players.

“This is Ruben Amorim,” Azevedo said. “The guy has luck and knowledge. He is going away, yet everyone is with him.”

Harder added a fourth in the 95th minute and, afterwards, Amorim said that moment was “more important” than beating Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League last Tuesday. Maybe because in a spectacular ground constructed out of the Monte do Castro quarry, Sporting had given a granite performance.

As the away fans sang about becoming champions — a chant requested by Amorim at his final pre-match press conference — he spread his arms wide as if to ask, “Are you not entertained?”

Any sense of bitterness over his exit in the middle of the season, as shown by some Sporting fans when news first broke, has subsided. The feeling now is overwhelmingly of gratitude.

Sporting supporter Antonio Bugalho said as much earlier in the day, during a break from chanting while in Braga city centre. “It’s pride — letting go of the best manager we’ll ever have,” he explained.

“I will never speak badly of Ruben Amorim. United don’t know the manager they have. He has a really good relationship with the players. He has the right ideas (and is) always honest with the public. It’s a special occasion.”

The waving of huge flags and boisterous singing by those who had travelled up from Lisbon, which echoed around the cobbled streets of Braga, was a testament to that.

Francisca Belo, another fan, agreed. “It is not angry. A little bit disappointed, of course, because it is the beginning of the season,” she said. “Back-to-back (titles) is a big thing. But we are OK with the team now. It is important to be here. It’s the last dance.”

“There are routines in the team,” Belo’s cousin, Antonio Teixeira, said. “You don’t need the manager. Ruben Amorim said, ‘The machine is well oiled’.”

Their fellow supporter Vasco Collaco was reflective. “It’s very sad news, but it’s life,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity for him. He was a historical manager for Sporting. I am very grateful to him and wish him the best. The Premier League is unpredictable, but I think he can do great things at Man United because it is a team in bad form, like Sporting was in the beginning.”

Later, up in the stands, Azevedo acknowledged Amorim, at 39 years old, will have to contend with questions over his level of senior experience. “People may be sceptical because of his age, but I believe he is ready,” she said. “He is not the Special One, because that is Jose Mourinho, but he is pretty special. I am 100 per cent sure he is going to be one of the best.”

In the post-match press conference, Amorim got emotional at times. He thanked Braga’s president Antonio Salvador “because he bet on me, it was a risky bet, but he trusted me.”

United’s new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has now gambled on Amorim restoring United to one of the best teams in England, and eventually Europe. Ratcliffe and company wanted a head coach on an upward trajectory to replace Erik ten Hag, somebody who could shoulder the weight of the club through a compelling charisma. Amorim has certainly displayed a nuance of language to tackle tough issues.

“I made some mistakes, but the team was always first,” he said. “This was the only time in four and a half years I thought about me. I ask for forgiveness; this was my time, my way, I need to be body and soul in a project.”

He added that the “secret of Sporting is also that man right there” — meaning director of football Hugo Viana, who watched Amorim’s last words as head coach and will leave for the Premier League himself at the end of the season to take the same job at Manchester City. Amorim said the quality of players signed by the club made his job easier.

He gave a major hint that he will deploy his preferred 3-4-3 system from the off at United, explaining: “I know how I am going to play in the beginning because you have to start with a structure that you know. We don’t have a lot of time to train, so I have to show something that I know very well.”

Amorim, who flies to Manchester today, will speak with interim United manager Ruud van Nistelrooy but by not affirming a place for the Dutchman, the direction of travel seems clear. “About a legend of the club, he did a great job. I have to talk with him, then I will explain everything,” he said.

The new head coach is said to want to bring with him three of Sporting’s assistant coaches — Emanuel Ferro, Adelio Candido and Carlos Fernandes — plus the goalkeeping coach Jorge Vital, sports scientist Paulo Barreira and a fitness coach, Goncalo Alvaro. Work permits for the six staff members, and Sporting’s stance on losing them, are factors.

The new man is not shying away from the heritage of the club, even if United want him to write a new history. Asked by a Portuguese journalist who he would like to have a meal with out of Sir Alex Ferguson, Roy Keane, Eric Cantona and Rio Ferdinand, he embraced the scenario. “Alex Ferguson was someone very special, he’s above everyone else at that club,” he said. “But it would be difficult to choose anyone. I will try to have lunch and dinner with all of them.”

If he replicates his Sporting achievements in England, he will have United supporters trying to buy him lunch, and dinner, for the rest of his life.

(Top photo: Pedro Loureiro/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

Laurie Whitwell worked for the Daily Mail from 2010, covering midlands football for the last five years, including Leicester’s remarkable Premier League triumph. Whitwell was nominated for sports scoop of the year at the 2019 SJAs for breaking Wayne Rooney’s move to DC United. He will be reporting on Manchester United for The Athletic. Follow Laurie on Twitter @lauriewhitwell