MI AMOR

THEY’LL be rolling out the red carpet for Ruben Amorim in Manchester on Monday now.

And they should be having a whip round at Old Trafford to get Viktor Gyokeres to follow him to Old Trafford as soon as possible.

Together they produced the ultimate fairytale farewell to the Jose Alvalade Stadium for the United-bound boss.

What an extraordinary way to endear himself to his new fans.

His team inflicted a first Champions League defeat in 90 minutes on Pep Guardiola’s mighty Manchester City since May 2022 — 32 matches ago.

Not to mention the heaviest loss in any competition in over four years for the ‘noisy neighbours’.

If this is the kind of entertainment that is heading for the Theatre of Dreams, then fasten your seatbelts.

Gyokeres got a hat-trick — including two penalties — to enhance his reputation as one of the hottest properties in Europe.

He could have had more too and looks exactly what goal-shy United need right now.

They say if you can’t be a good manager then be a lucky one — and Amorim certainly had his share of good fortune.

City bossed the first-half and should have been out of sight — while Erling Haaland also uncharacteristically missed a second-half pen.

But credit to Amorim and his team for hanging in there and then hitting the English champs with some stunning breakaways.

The manager was given a huge ovation by the crowd before kick-off – while a huge banner showed the trophies he has won and simply said “thank you”.

Yet he had expressed his worries before kick-off that the emotion of the last week might affect his players.

And sure enough they began nervously despite their excellent start to the season and fell behind within four minutes.

Keeper Franco Israel rolled a pass to Hidemasa Morita who didn’t look best pleased when he was dispossessed in the blink of an eye by Foden.

The England ace took a couple more touches before thumping a shot past the Sportingkeeper — who might be disappointed not to keep it out.

Foden has now scored in eight of his last nine appearances in this competition and seems to be going through the gears after a slow start to the season.

Yet the home side could have levelled within a couple of minutes as Gyokeres nipped in ahead of Rico Lewis and raced through on goal from his own half.

City were shell-shocked as they faced up to the prospect of losing three games in a row for the first time in six years.

They got a lifeline midway through the second-half as Silva’s shot hit the arm of Ousmane Diomande.

After a long VAR check a penalty was given and after an even longer wait, Haaland hammered his spot-kick against the bar. — Sun.

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