Pep Guardiola is on to the fifth Manchester United manager of his reign at Manchester City. Under normal circumstances, that would illustrate the difficulty of coaching in the same city and competing with him. After all, City had 14 managers and four caretakers during Sir Alex Ferguson’s epic reign at Old Trafford. Now, Ruben Amorim makes it five United managers plus two caretakers, Michael Carrick and Ruud van Nistelrooy, since Guardiola arrived in 2016. As his new contract lasts until 2027, there is time for another.
And yet, Amorim’s Manchester derby debut offers him the chance to complete a rare feat. On the worst run of his managerial career, Guardiola has already lost twice within a few weeks to Ange Postecoglou. Amorim has the opportunity to emulate him but to do a double with different clubs. His penultimate game with Sporting CP was a 4-1 triumph that took the Portuguese club to second in the Champions League standings.
