Sporting put together the performance of a lifetime to stun Manchester City in the Champions League with a 4-1 thrashing in Lisbon.
Ruben Amorim has put a smile across the faces of Manchester United supporters around the globe over two weeks before he officially steps into the job to replace Erik ten Hag.
His reigning champions of Portugal got off on the back foot when Phil Foden opened the scoring inside the first five minutes for City – and that was about it for the visitors as Sporting frontman Viktor Gyokeres decided that was enough.
After squandering a golden one-on-one opportunity to level the scores a few minutes later, the Swedish international made sure to right his wrong with a clever strike to equalise before half-time.
Straight into the restart with their first attack of the half, Pedro Goncalves broke forward and slipped Maximiliano Araujo through on goal to put Sporting in front for the first time.
Gyokeres completed an impressive hat-trick with two penalties to bump his tally for the season up to five, tied for the lead with Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane.
Amorim’s side currently sit second in the competition’s league phase with three wins and a draw from four games, two points adrift Liverpool at the top.
According to the best football betting sites, Sporting are priced at around 66/1 to win the competition. City are unsurprising 3/1 favourites to win it for the second time in two years.
WATCH: Sporting 4-1 Manchester City Highlights
What is Viktor Gyokeres’ release clause?
Gyokeres, who joined Sporting last July for a €20 million fee from Championship outfit Coventry City, has been nothing but a hit sensation since touching down in the Portuguese capital.
In his first season at the club, the 26-year-old won the Primera Liga ‘Player of the Season’ award alongside the golden boot with 29 goals.
Since the move, Gyokeres has scored 66 goals in 67 matches with 23 in just 17 this campaign. Amorim’s Manchester United side are in desperate need of some of those goals.
It doesn’t seem to be working out for Joshua Zirkzee, who has been linked with a move away in January and the club might prefer a forward with more of a killer instinct than Rasmus Hojlund.
Gyokeres has an £85 million release clause in his current conntract, which expires in June 2028 – and there looks to be a bit of value in that price.
