A lot could have gone wrong in Rúben Amorim’s last home game as Sporting CP coach. Perhaps he feared the heavy air of resentment from an adoring fanbase ahead of his imminent switch to Manchester United. Perhaps he dreaded the visitors for the occasion – Manchester City, no less, a team that tends to leave a trail of broken dreams in their wake, a team that brutally tamed Amorim’s Lions 5-0 only two years before. A lot could have gone wrong. Instead, pretty much everything went right.
If there were any doubts as to how Amorim would be received, they were swept away with the unfurling of an enormous roof-to-turf banner featuring his name, portrait, trophy collection and a single word: “Obrigado” (“Thank you”). And those Sporting fans have plenty to be thankful for. When Amorim arrived in March 2020, the club were drifting, past glories fading with each passing season. Anger and resentment brewed – in 2018, a gang of ultras invaded the training ground intent on finding a physical outlet for their frustrations. No pressure, then.
If Amorim did feel the weight of expectation, he didn’t show it. “What if it goes wrong?” a reporter asked the then 35-year-old at his first press conference. “What if it goes right?” came the reply. There was more than a hint of bravado; there needed to be. In a febrile environment, Amorim’s task was to gain the trust of his players and the fanbase. He had to give the impression of unwavering confidence in a path that only he could see, and convince everybody to follow. “I always felt completely sure, but of course I had moments of doubt. I did what I could, with stubbornness.”
Amorim, a disciple of his former coach Jorge Jesus, is a 3-4-3 man to the core. It was the system he used in his first job at Casa Pia, the Lisbon side whose fortunes he revived before his lack of official qualifications forced his premature departure; he left the dressing room in tears. The three-man back line was also the bedrock for a remarkable 13-game stint at Braga in 2020, when Amorim led the team to two wins apiece against Porto and Sporting, a first victory at Benfica in 65 years and the Portuguese League Cup. It was enough to convince the green and white half of the Portuguese capital to trigger his €10m release clause.
“I know how I’m going to play because you have to start with a structure that you know and then adapt with the players you have,” Amorim, a childhood Benfica fan, said after his unveiling as the club’s fourth coach that season. In four and a half years at Sporting, he never wavered from his commitment to 3-4-3 and a possession-based game. But while the core tactical idea didn’t change, there were tweaks, based on individual attributes and familiarity with the system. This season, with his team flying high again, Amorim claimed that it is now so ingrained his players “could play with their eyes closed”.
Not that Amorim is complacent. The sea of green at the Estádio José Alvalade broke into joyful waves when Viktor Gyökeres cancelled out Phil Foden’s opener for City on Matchday 4, but the coach was oblivious. He used the break in play to call over Zeno Debast, Ousmane Diomande and 17-year-old Geovany Quenda to fine-tune their combinations. All his players speak of the clear vision that Amorim is able to convey. “I’d played as a left-sided centre-back before coming here,” says 29-year-old Matheus Reis. “I thought I knew everything there was to know about that position, but here I have learnt so much more.”
In Amorim’s first full season, Sporting clinched their first league title in nearly two decades, breaking Benfica and Porto’s 19-year duopoly, and they added a Portuguese League Cup triumph for good measure. “It didn’t really have too much to do with us,” says Antonio Adán, the first-choice goalkeeper in that team. “It was the coach who we really needed to thank. He changed everyone’s mentality: the players, the fans, the people working at the club. He made us believe we could be champions.”
“What if it goes wrong?’ A reporter asked. ‘What if it goes right?’ Came the reply”
That Amorim has succeeded as a coach is a surprise to no one. His primary school teacher recalls the young Rúben, a diligent student, warming up for breaktime by informing classmates what positions they would be playing once the bell rang. Patrick Morais de Carvalho, president of his first club Belenenses, says that while Amorim was never a brilliant player (even if he did win 14 caps for Portugal), from the start “he was an extension of the coach on the pitch”. When Amorim’s playing career ended in 2017, he signed up for a high-performance coaching course at the University of Lisbon, where one Mr J Mourinho was among his lecturers. He stood out immediately.
At Sporting, Amorim had to negotiate the loss of key personnel, including Matheus Nunes, Nuno Mendes, João Palhinha, Pedro Porro and Manuel Ugarte. Yet he adapted, survived and ultimately thrived. He has never been afraid to promote from within – when players are good enough, they are old enough – and working with great friend Hugo Viana, now bound for Manchester City, he has proved shrewd in the transfer market. Paulinho was not necessarily a striker to set fans’ pulses racing, yet he became pivotal to their success before departing in the summer. Gyökeres was picked up from Coventry City in England’s second tier after a dogged pursuit and has delivered almost a goal per game.
The striker, once on Brighton’s books, was at the vanguard of Sporting’s remarkable 2023/24 campaign, when the Lions roared to another title, finishing ten points clear of second-placed Benfica. They scored 96 goals from an expected goals (xG) tally of 56.25, with Gyökeres contributing 29. Who else then but the Swede to score a hat-trick against City? After bagging the match ball against a side many consider the best in the world, you might expect to be the centre of attention. Not on this October night, though, as Amorim was forced to soak up some solo adulation that culminated in him being unceremoniously tossed into the air in a move that, just for once, his players looked ill prepared for.
“I know what I did for them, and what they did for me,” Amorim says of Sporting – the club, the players and fans. “I will keep these memories with me forever. The most important moment for me was when we lost 5-0 to City and everyone applauded. I couldn’t ask for anything better – it was a very important moment for all. It has been an incredible adventure.”
A lot could have gone wrong in Rúben Amorim’s last home game as Sporting CP coach. Perhaps he feared the heavy air of resentment from an adoring fanbase ahead of his imminent switch to Manchester United. Perhaps he dreaded the visitors for the occasion – Manchester City, no less, a team that tends to leave a trail of broken dreams in their wake, a team that brutally tamed Amorim’s Lions 5-0 only two years before. A lot could have gone wrong. Instead, pretty much everything went right.
If there were any doubts as to how Amorim would be received, they were swept away with the unfurling of an enormous roof-to-turf banner featuring his name, portrait, trophy collection and a single word: “Obrigado” (“Thank you”). And those Sporting fans have plenty to be thankful for. When Amorim arrived in March 2020, the club were drifting, past glories fading with each passing season. Anger and resentment brewed – in 2018, a gang of ultras invaded the training ground intent on finding a physical outlet for their frustrations. No pressure, then.
If Amorim did feel the weight of expectation, he didn’t show it. “What if it goes wrong?” a reporter asked the then 35-year-old at his first press conference. “What if it goes right?” came the reply. There was more than a hint of bravado; there needed to be. In a febrile environment, Amorim’s task was to gain the trust of his players and the fanbase. He had to give the impression of unwavering confidence in a path that only he could see, and convince everybody to follow. “I always felt completely sure, but of course I had moments of doubt. I did what I could, with stubbornness.”
Amorim, a disciple of his former coach Jorge Jesus, is a 3-4-3 man to the core. It was the system he used in his first job at Casa Pia, the Lisbon side whose fortunes he revived before his lack of official qualifications forced his premature departure; he left the dressing room in tears. The three-man back line was also the bedrock for a remarkable 13-game stint at Braga in 2020, when Amorim led the team to two wins apiece against Porto and Sporting, a first victory at Benfica in 65 years and the Portuguese League Cup. It was enough to convince the green and white half of the Portuguese capital to trigger his €10m release clause.
“I know how I’m going to play because you have to start with a structure that you know and then adapt with the players you have,” Amorim, a childhood Benfica fan, said after his unveiling as the club’s fourth coach that season. In four and a half years at Sporting, he never wavered from his commitment to 3-4-3 and a possession-based game. But while the core tactical idea didn’t change, there were tweaks, based on individual attributes and familiarity with the system. This season, with his team flying high again, Amorim claimed that it is now so ingrained his players “could play with their eyes closed”.
Not that Amorim is complacent. The sea of green at the Estádio José Alvalade broke into joyful waves when Viktor Gyökeres cancelled out Phil Foden’s opener for City on Matchday 4, but the coach was oblivious. He used the break in play to call over Zeno Debast, Ousmane Diomande and 17-year-old Geovany Quenda to fine-tune their combinations. All his players speak of the clear vision that Amorim is able to convey. “I’d played as a left-sided centre-back before coming here,” says 29-year-old Matheus Reis. “I thought I knew everything there was to know about that position, but here I have learnt so much more.”
In Amorim’s first full season, Sporting clinched their first league title in nearly two decades, breaking Benfica and Porto’s 19-year duopoly, and they added a Portuguese League Cup triumph for good measure. “It didn’t really have too much to do with us,” says Antonio Adán, the first-choice goalkeeper in that team. “It was the coach who we really needed to thank. He changed everyone’s mentality: the players, the fans, the people working at the club. He made us believe we could be champions.”
“What if it goes wrong?’ A reporter asked. ‘What if it goes right?’ Came the reply”
That Amorim has succeeded as a coach is a surprise to no one. His primary school teacher recalls the young Rúben, a diligent student, warming up for breaktime by informing classmates what positions they would be playing once the bell rang. Patrick Morais de Carvalho, president of his first club Belenenses, says that while Amorim was never a brilliant player (even if he did win 14 caps for Portugal), from the start “he was an extension of the coach on the pitch”. When Amorim’s playing career ended in 2017, he signed up for a high-performance coaching course at the University of Lisbon, where one Mr J Mourinho was among his lecturers. He stood out immediately.
At Sporting, Amorim had to negotiate the loss of key personnel, including Matheus Nunes, Nuno Mendes, João Palhinha, Pedro Porro and Manuel Ugarte. Yet he adapted, survived and ultimately thrived. He has never been afraid to promote from within – when players are good enough, they are old enough – and working with great friend Hugo Viana, now bound for Manchester City, he has proved shrewd in the transfer market. Paulinho was not necessarily a striker to set fans’ pulses racing, yet he became pivotal to their success before departing in the summer. Gyökeres was picked up from Coventry City in England’s second tier after a dogged pursuit and has delivered almost a goal per game.
The striker, once on Brighton’s books, was at the vanguard of Sporting’s remarkable 2023/24 campaign, when the Lions roared to another title, finishing ten points clear of second-placed Benfica. They scored 96 goals from an expected goals (xG) tally of 56.25, with Gyökeres contributing 29. Who else then but the Swede to score a hat-trick against City? After bagging the match ball against a side many consider the best in the world, you might expect to be the centre of attention. Not on this October night, though, as Amorim was forced to soak up some solo adulation that culminated in him being unceremoniously tossed into the air in a move that, just for once, his players looked ill prepared for.
“I know what I did for them, and what they did for me,” Amorim says of Sporting – the club, the players and fans. “I will keep these memories with me forever. The most important moment for me was when we lost 5-0 to City and everyone applauded. I couldn’t ask for anything better – it was a very important moment for all. It has been an incredible adventure.”
A lot could have gone wrong in Rúben Amorim’s last home game as Sporting CP coach. Perhaps he feared the heavy air of resentment from an adoring fanbase ahead of his imminent switch to Manchester United. Perhaps he dreaded the visitors for the occasion – Manchester City, no less, a team that tends to leave a trail of broken dreams in their wake, a team that brutally tamed Amorim’s Lions 5-0 only two years before. A lot could have gone wrong. Instead, pretty much everything went right.
If there were any doubts as to how Amorim would be received, they were swept away with the unfurling of an enormous roof-to-turf banner featuring his name, portrait, trophy collection and a single word: “Obrigado” (“Thank you”). And those Sporting fans have plenty to be thankful for. When Amorim arrived in March 2020, the club were drifting, past glories fading with each passing season. Anger and resentment brewed – in 2018, a gang of ultras invaded the training ground intent on finding a physical outlet for their frustrations. No pressure, then.
If Amorim did feel the weight of expectation, he didn’t show it. “What if it goes wrong?” a reporter asked the then 35-year-old at his first press conference. “What if it goes right?” came the reply. There was more than a hint of bravado; there needed to be. In a febrile environment, Amorim’s task was to gain the trust of his players and the fanbase. He had to give the impression of unwavering confidence in a path that only he could see, and convince everybody to follow. “I always felt completely sure, but of course I had moments of doubt. I did what I could, with stubbornness.”
Amorim, a disciple of his former coach Jorge Jesus, is a 3-4-3 man to the core. It was the system he used in his first job at Casa Pia, the Lisbon side whose fortunes he revived before his lack of official qualifications forced his premature departure; he left the dressing room in tears. The three-man back line was also the bedrock for a remarkable 13-game stint at Braga in 2020, when Amorim led the team to two wins apiece against Porto and Sporting, a first victory at Benfica in 65 years and the Portuguese League Cup. It was enough to convince the green and white half of the Portuguese capital to trigger his €10m release clause.
“I know how I’m going to play because you have to start with a structure that you know and then adapt with the players you have,” Amorim, a childhood Benfica fan, said after his unveiling as the club’s fourth coach that season. In four and a half years at Sporting, he never wavered from his commitment to 3-4-3 and a possession-based game. But while the core tactical idea didn’t change, there were tweaks, based on individual attributes and familiarity with the system. This season, with his team flying high again, Amorim claimed that it is now so ingrained his players “could play with their eyes closed”.
Not that Amorim is complacent. The sea of green at the Estádio José Alvalade broke into joyful waves when Viktor Gyökeres cancelled out Phil Foden’s opener for City on Matchday 4, but the coach was oblivious. He used the break in play to call over Zeno Debast, Ousmane Diomande and 17-year-old Geovany Quenda to fine-tune their combinations. All his players speak of the clear vision that Amorim is able to convey. “I’d played as a left-sided centre-back before coming here,” says 29-year-old Matheus Reis. “I thought I knew everything there was to know about that position, but here I have learnt so much more.”
In Amorim’s first full season, Sporting clinched their first league title in nearly two decades, breaking Benfica and Porto’s 19-year duopoly, and they added a Portuguese League Cup triumph for good measure. “It didn’t really have too much to do with us,” says Antonio Adán, the first-choice goalkeeper in that team. “It was the coach who we really needed to thank. He changed everyone’s mentality: the players, the fans, the people working at the club. He made us believe we could be champions.”
“What if it goes wrong?’ A reporter asked. ‘What if it goes right?’ Came the reply”
That Amorim has succeeded as a coach is a surprise to no one. His primary school teacher recalls the young Rúben, a diligent student, warming up for breaktime by informing classmates what positions they would be playing once the bell rang. Patrick Morais de Carvalho, president of his first club Belenenses, says that while Amorim was never a brilliant player (even if he did win 14 caps for Portugal), from the start “he was an extension of the coach on the pitch”. When Amorim’s playing career ended in 2017, he signed up for a high-performance coaching course at the University of Lisbon, where one Mr J Mourinho was among his lecturers. He stood out immediately.
At Sporting, Amorim had to negotiate the loss of key personnel, including Matheus Nunes, Nuno Mendes, João Palhinha, Pedro Porro and Manuel Ugarte. Yet he adapted, survived and ultimately thrived. He has never been afraid to promote from within – when players are good enough, they are old enough – and working with great friend Hugo Viana, now bound for Manchester City, he has proved shrewd in the transfer market. Paulinho was not necessarily a striker to set fans’ pulses racing, yet he became pivotal to their success before departing in the summer. Gyökeres was picked up from Coventry City in England’s second tier after a dogged pursuit and has delivered almost a goal per game.
The striker, once on Brighton’s books, was at the vanguard of Sporting’s remarkable 2023/24 campaign, when the Lions roared to another title, finishing ten points clear of second-placed Benfica. They scored 96 goals from an expected goals (xG) tally of 56.25, with Gyökeres contributing 29. Who else then but the Swede to score a hat-trick against City? After bagging the match ball against a side many consider the best in the world, you might expect to be the centre of attention. Not on this October night, though, as Amorim was forced to soak up some solo adulation that culminated in him being unceremoniously tossed into the air in a move that, just for once, his players looked ill prepared for.
“I know what I did for them, and what they did for me,” Amorim says of Sporting – the club, the players and fans. “I will keep these memories with me forever. The most important moment for me was when we lost 5-0 to City and everyone applauded. I couldn’t ask for anything better – it was a very important moment for all. It has been an incredible adventure.”
A lot could have gone wrong in Rúben Amorim’s last home game as Sporting CP coach. Perhaps he feared the heavy air of resentment from an adoring fanbase ahead of his imminent switch to Manchester United. Perhaps he dreaded the visitors for the occasion – Manchester City, no less, a team that tends to leave a trail of broken dreams in their wake, a team that brutally tamed Amorim’s Lions 5-0 only two years before. A lot could have gone wrong. Instead, pretty much everything went right.
If there were any doubts as to how Amorim would be received, they were swept away with the unfurling of an enormous roof-to-turf banner featuring his name, portrait, trophy collection and a single word: “Obrigado” (“Thank you”). And those Sporting fans have plenty to be thankful for. When Amorim arrived in March 2020, the club were drifting, past glories fading with each passing season. Anger and resentment brewed – in 2018, a gang of ultras invaded the training ground intent on finding a physical outlet for their frustrations. No pressure, then.
If Amorim did feel the weight of expectation, he didn’t show it. “What if it goes wrong?” a reporter asked the then 35-year-old at his first press conference. “What if it goes right?” came the reply. There was more than a hint of bravado; there needed to be. In a febrile environment, Amorim’s task was to gain the trust of his players and the fanbase. He had to give the impression of unwavering confidence in a path that only he could see, and convince everybody to follow. “I always felt completely sure, but of course I had moments of doubt. I did what I could, with stubbornness.”
Amorim, a disciple of his former coach Jorge Jesus, is a 3-4-3 man to the core. It was the system he used in his first job at Casa Pia, the Lisbon side whose fortunes he revived before his lack of official qualifications forced his premature departure; he left the dressing room in tears. The three-man back line was also the bedrock for a remarkable 13-game stint at Braga in 2020, when Amorim led the team to two wins apiece against Porto and Sporting, a first victory at Benfica in 65 years and the Portuguese League Cup. It was enough to convince the green and white half of the Portuguese capital to trigger his €10m release clause.
“I know how I’m going to play because you have to start with a structure that you know and then adapt with the players you have,” Amorim, a childhood Benfica fan, said after his unveiling as the club’s fourth coach that season. In four and a half years at Sporting, he never wavered from his commitment to 3-4-3 and a possession-based game. But while the core tactical idea didn’t change, there were tweaks, based on individual attributes and familiarity with the system. This season, with his team flying high again, Amorim claimed that it is now so ingrained his players “could play with their eyes closed”.
Not that Amorim is complacent. The sea of green at the Estádio José Alvalade broke into joyful waves when Viktor Gyökeres cancelled out Phil Foden’s opener for City on Matchday 4, but the coach was oblivious. He used the break in play to call over Zeno Debast, Ousmane Diomande and 17-year-old Geovany Quenda to fine-tune their combinations. All his players speak of the clear vision that Amorim is able to convey. “I’d played as a left-sided centre-back before coming here,” says 29-year-old Matheus Reis. “I thought I knew everything there was to know about that position, but here I have learnt so much more.”
In Amorim’s first full season, Sporting clinched their first league title in nearly two decades, breaking Benfica and Porto’s 19-year duopoly, and they added a Portuguese League Cup triumph for good measure. “It didn’t really have too much to do with us,” says Antonio Adán, the first-choice goalkeeper in that team. “It was the coach who we really needed to thank. He changed everyone’s mentality: the players, the fans, the people working at the club. He made us believe we could be champions.”
“What if it goes wrong?’ A reporter asked. ‘What if it goes right?’ Came the reply”
That Amorim has succeeded as a coach is a surprise to no one. His primary school teacher recalls the young Rúben, a diligent student, warming up for breaktime by informing classmates what positions they would be playing once the bell rang. Patrick Morais de Carvalho, president of his first club Belenenses, says that while Amorim was never a brilliant player (even if he did win 14 caps for Portugal), from the start “he was an extension of the coach on the pitch”. When Amorim’s playing career ended in 2017, he signed up for a high-performance coaching course at the University of Lisbon, where one Mr J Mourinho was among his lecturers. He stood out immediately.
At Sporting, Amorim had to negotiate the loss of key personnel, including Matheus Nunes, Nuno Mendes, João Palhinha, Pedro Porro and Manuel Ugarte. Yet he adapted, survived and ultimately thrived. He has never been afraid to promote from within – when players are good enough, they are old enough – and working with great friend Hugo Viana, now bound for Manchester City, he has proved shrewd in the transfer market. Paulinho was not necessarily a striker to set fans’ pulses racing, yet he became pivotal to their success before departing in the summer. Gyökeres was picked up from Coventry City in England’s second tier after a dogged pursuit and has delivered almost a goal per game.
The striker, once on Brighton’s books, was at the vanguard of Sporting’s remarkable 2023/24 campaign, when the Lions roared to another title, finishing ten points clear of second-placed Benfica. They scored 96 goals from an expected goals (xG) tally of 56.25, with Gyökeres contributing 29. Who else then but the Swede to score a hat-trick against City? After bagging the match ball against a side many consider the best in the world, you might expect to be the centre of attention. Not on this October night, though, as Amorim was forced to soak up some solo adulation that culminated in him being unceremoniously tossed into the air in a move that, just for once, his players looked ill prepared for.
“I know what I did for them, and what they did for me,” Amorim says of Sporting – the club, the players and fans. “I will keep these memories with me forever. The most important moment for me was when we lost 5-0 to City and everyone applauded. I couldn’t ask for anything better – it was a very important moment for all. It has been an incredible adventure.”
A lot could have gone wrong in Rúben Amorim’s last home game as Sporting CP coach. Perhaps he feared the heavy air of resentment from an adoring fanbase ahead of his imminent switch to Manchester United. Perhaps he dreaded the visitors for the occasion – Manchester City, no less, a team that tends to leave a trail of broken dreams in their wake, a team that brutally tamed Amorim’s Lions 5-0 only two years before. A lot could have gone wrong. Instead, pretty much everything went right.
If there were any doubts as to how Amorim would be received, they were swept away with the unfurling of an enormous roof-to-turf banner featuring his name, portrait, trophy collection and a single word: “Obrigado” (“Thank you”). And those Sporting fans have plenty to be thankful for. When Amorim arrived in March 2020, the club were drifting, past glories fading with each passing season. Anger and resentment brewed – in 2018, a gang of ultras invaded the training ground intent on finding a physical outlet for their frustrations. No pressure, then.
If Amorim did feel the weight of expectation, he didn’t show it. “What if it goes wrong?” a reporter asked the then 35-year-old at his first press conference. “What if it goes right?” came the reply. There was more than a hint of bravado; there needed to be. In a febrile environment, Amorim’s task was to gain the trust of his players and the fanbase. He had to give the impression of unwavering confidence in a path that only he could see, and convince everybody to follow. “I always felt completely sure, but of course I had moments of doubt. I did what I could, with stubbornness.”
Amorim, a disciple of his former coach Jorge Jesus, is a 3-4-3 man to the core. It was the system he used in his first job at Casa Pia, the Lisbon side whose fortunes he revived before his lack of official qualifications forced his premature departure; he left the dressing room in tears. The three-man back line was also the bedrock for a remarkable 13-game stint at Braga in 2020, when Amorim led the team to two wins apiece against Porto and Sporting, a first victory at Benfica in 65 years and the Portuguese League Cup. It was enough to convince the green and white half of the Portuguese capital to trigger his €10m release clause.
“I know how I’m going to play because you have to start with a structure that you know and then adapt with the players you have,” Amorim, a childhood Benfica fan, said after his unveiling as the club’s fourth coach that season. In four and a half years at Sporting, he never wavered from his commitment to 3-4-3 and a possession-based game. But while the core tactical idea didn’t change, there were tweaks, based on individual attributes and familiarity with the system. This season, with his team flying high again, Amorim claimed that it is now so ingrained his players “could play with their eyes closed”.
Not that Amorim is complacent. The sea of green at the Estádio José Alvalade broke into joyful waves when Viktor Gyökeres cancelled out Phil Foden’s opener for City on Matchday 4, but the coach was oblivious. He used the break in play to call over Zeno Debast, Ousmane Diomande and 17-year-old Geovany Quenda to fine-tune their combinations. All his players speak of the clear vision that Amorim is able to convey. “I’d played as a left-sided centre-back before coming here,” says 29-year-old Matheus Reis. “I thought I knew everything there was to know about that position, but here I have learnt so much more.”
In Amorim’s first full season, Sporting clinched their first league title in nearly two decades, breaking Benfica and Porto’s 19-year duopoly, and they added a Portuguese League Cup triumph for good measure. “It didn’t really have too much to do with us,” says Antonio Adán, the first-choice goalkeeper in that team. “It was the coach who we really needed to thank. He changed everyone’s mentality: the players, the fans, the people working at the club. He made us believe we could be champions.”
“What if it goes wrong?’ A reporter asked. ‘What if it goes right?’ Came the reply”
That Amorim has succeeded as a coach is a surprise to no one. His primary school teacher recalls the young Rúben, a diligent student, warming up for breaktime by informing classmates what positions they would be playing once the bell rang. Patrick Morais de Carvalho, president of his first club Belenenses, says that while Amorim was never a brilliant player (even if he did win 14 caps for Portugal), from the start “he was an extension of the coach on the pitch”. When Amorim’s playing career ended in 2017, he signed up for a high-performance coaching course at the University of Lisbon, where one Mr J Mourinho was among his lecturers. He stood out immediately.
At Sporting, Amorim had to negotiate the loss of key personnel, including Matheus Nunes, Nuno Mendes, João Palhinha, Pedro Porro and Manuel Ugarte. Yet he adapted, survived and ultimately thrived. He has never been afraid to promote from within – when players are good enough, they are old enough – and working with great friend Hugo Viana, now bound for Manchester City, he has proved shrewd in the transfer market. Paulinho was not necessarily a striker to set fans’ pulses racing, yet he became pivotal to their success before departing in the summer. Gyökeres was picked up from Coventry City in England’s second tier after a dogged pursuit and has delivered almost a goal per game.
The striker, once on Brighton’s books, was at the vanguard of Sporting’s remarkable 2023/24 campaign, when the Lions roared to another title, finishing ten points clear of second-placed Benfica. They scored 96 goals from an expected goals (xG) tally of 56.25, with Gyökeres contributing 29. Who else then but the Swede to score a hat-trick against City? After bagging the match ball against a side many consider the best in the world, you might expect to be the centre of attention. Not on this October night, though, as Amorim was forced to soak up some solo adulation that culminated in him being unceremoniously tossed into the air in a move that, just for once, his players looked ill prepared for.
“I know what I did for them, and what they did for me,” Amorim says of Sporting – the club, the players and fans. “I will keep these memories with me forever. The most important moment for me was when we lost 5-0 to City and everyone applauded. I couldn’t ask for anything better – it was a very important moment for all. It has been an incredible adventure.”
A lot could have gone wrong in Rúben Amorim’s last home game as Sporting CP coach. Perhaps he feared the heavy air of resentment from an adoring fanbase ahead of his imminent switch to Manchester United. Perhaps he dreaded the visitors for the occasion – Manchester City, no less, a team that tends to leave a trail of broken dreams in their wake, a team that brutally tamed Amorim’s Lions 5-0 only two years before. A lot could have gone wrong. Instead, pretty much everything went right.
If there were any doubts as to how Amorim would be received, they were swept away with the unfurling of an enormous roof-to-turf banner featuring his name, portrait, trophy collection and a single word: “Obrigado” (“Thank you”). And those Sporting fans have plenty to be thankful for. When Amorim arrived in March 2020, the club were drifting, past glories fading with each passing season. Anger and resentment brewed – in 2018, a gang of ultras invaded the training ground intent on finding a physical outlet for their frustrations. No pressure, then.
If Amorim did feel the weight of expectation, he didn’t show it. “What if it goes wrong?” a reporter asked the then 35-year-old at his first press conference. “What if it goes right?” came the reply. There was more than a hint of bravado; there needed to be. In a febrile environment, Amorim’s task was to gain the trust of his players and the fanbase. He had to give the impression of unwavering confidence in a path that only he could see, and convince everybody to follow. “I always felt completely sure, but of course I had moments of doubt. I did what I could, with stubbornness.”
Amorim, a disciple of his former coach Jorge Jesus, is a 3-4-3 man to the core. It was the system he used in his first job at Casa Pia, the Lisbon side whose fortunes he revived before his lack of official qualifications forced his premature departure; he left the dressing room in tears. The three-man back line was also the bedrock for a remarkable 13-game stint at Braga in 2020, when Amorim led the team to two wins apiece against Porto and Sporting, a first victory at Benfica in 65 years and the Portuguese League Cup. It was enough to convince the green and white half of the Portuguese capital to trigger his €10m release clause.
“I know how I’m going to play because you have to start with a structure that you know and then adapt with the players you have,” Amorim, a childhood Benfica fan, said after his unveiling as the club’s fourth coach that season. In four and a half years at Sporting, he never wavered from his commitment to 3-4-3 and a possession-based game. But while the core tactical idea didn’t change, there were tweaks, based on individual attributes and familiarity with the system. This season, with his team flying high again, Amorim claimed that it is now so ingrained his players “could play with their eyes closed”.
Not that Amorim is complacent. The sea of green at the Estádio José Alvalade broke into joyful waves when Viktor Gyökeres cancelled out Phil Foden’s opener for City on Matchday 4, but the coach was oblivious. He used the break in play to call over Zeno Debast, Ousmane Diomande and 17-year-old Geovany Quenda to fine-tune their combinations. All his players speak of the clear vision that Amorim is able to convey. “I’d played as a left-sided centre-back before coming here,” says 29-year-old Matheus Reis. “I thought I knew everything there was to know about that position, but here I have learnt so much more.”
In Amorim’s first full season, Sporting clinched their first league title in nearly two decades, breaking Benfica and Porto’s 19-year duopoly, and they added a Portuguese League Cup triumph for good measure. “It didn’t really have too much to do with us,” says Antonio Adán, the first-choice goalkeeper in that team. “It was the coach who we really needed to thank. He changed everyone’s mentality: the players, the fans, the people working at the club. He made us believe we could be champions.”
“What if it goes wrong?’ A reporter asked. ‘What if it goes right?’ Came the reply”
That Amorim has succeeded as a coach is a surprise to no one. His primary school teacher recalls the young Rúben, a diligent student, warming up for breaktime by informing classmates what positions they would be playing once the bell rang. Patrick Morais de Carvalho, president of his first club Belenenses, says that while Amorim was never a brilliant player (even if he did win 14 caps for Portugal), from the start “he was an extension of the coach on the pitch”. When Amorim’s playing career ended in 2017, he signed up for a high-performance coaching course at the University of Lisbon, where one Mr J Mourinho was among his lecturers. He stood out immediately.
At Sporting, Amorim had to negotiate the loss of key personnel, including Matheus Nunes, Nuno Mendes, João Palhinha, Pedro Porro and Manuel Ugarte. Yet he adapted, survived and ultimately thrived. He has never been afraid to promote from within – when players are good enough, they are old enough – and working with great friend Hugo Viana, now bound for Manchester City, he has proved shrewd in the transfer market. Paulinho was not necessarily a striker to set fans’ pulses racing, yet he became pivotal to their success before departing in the summer. Gyökeres was picked up from Coventry City in England’s second tier after a dogged pursuit and has delivered almost a goal per game.
The striker, once on Brighton’s books, was at the vanguard of Sporting’s remarkable 2023/24 campaign, when the Lions roared to another title, finishing ten points clear of second-placed Benfica. They scored 96 goals from an expected goals (xG) tally of 56.25, with Gyökeres contributing 29. Who else then but the Swede to score a hat-trick against City? After bagging the match ball against a side many consider the best in the world, you might expect to be the centre of attention. Not on this October night, though, as Amorim was forced to soak up some solo adulation that culminated in him being unceremoniously tossed into the air in a move that, just for once, his players looked ill prepared for.
“I know what I did for them, and what they did for me,” Amorim says of Sporting – the club, the players and fans. “I will keep these memories with me forever. The most important moment for me was when we lost 5-0 to City and everyone applauded. I couldn’t ask for anything better – it was a very important moment for all. It has been an incredible adventure.”
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