The Athletic FC: Amorim gives United hope with City win, crisis at Real Madrid?

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Ruben Amorim and Pep Guardiola went at it last night. It's round one to the Portuguese.

On the way:

Sporting chance for Manchester United?

Real Madrid on the rocks

Spurs — the EPL 's top attackers

Judge's Mendy tribunal verdict

Golden Goodbye: Amorim leaves Sporting on a high after beating City 4-1

"I think there's goals in the second half."

So said Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher , midway through UK broadcaster TNT Sports' coverage of Sporting Lisbon versus Manchester City in the Champions League , with the game level at 1-1. And there were: four minutes after half-time ended, City were 3-1 down.

Let's gloss over the naffness of asking a musician to co-commentate on elite football. City took a beating in Portugal last night, rag-dolled 4-1 by a manager they'll be seeing much more of very soon. Ruben Amorim, in his last home game with Sporting before he joins Manchester United next week, said goodbye in style. For Pep Guardiola, it was a cold and frosty 'hello'.

"If we (beat City)," Amorim said in advance , "they (United's fans) will think the new Sir Alex Ferguson has arrived." Won't they just. And without going overboard, round one of Amorim versus Guardiola was a reason to think United picked their new leader smartly.

City have had the run of Manchester for a long time but you can't see the red side of town cowering forever. That said, Amorim was pointed afterwards in warning that his style of football in Lisbon won't simply transfer to England in a flash. "United cannot play the way we play," he insisted . "We will not be able to transfer one reality to another." Fair point.

Something I want to know: will Viktor Gyokeres be following Amorim to Old Trafford? The 26-year-old Sweden international striker notched a hat-trick last night, his first finish clinical and deliberately struck into the turf to lift it over Ederson (above). His goalscoring record for Sporting is a joke — 53 goals in 2024, since you ask.

Surely somebody big is going to punt the mortgage on him soon.

Crisis at Real Madrid?

For City, that's three defeats in a row. Guardiola was doing that thing of scratching his head with his eyes closed and eyebrows raised ; a textbook sign of him stewing. City midfielder Bernardo Silva said after the match they are in a 'dark place' .

They are not alone. I said that it might get worse for Real Madrid before it got better. It duly did. They lost 3-1 to a non-vintage AC Milan team at the Bernabeu last night. The photo of manager Carlo Ancelotti (above) we used at the top of Mario Cortegana's post-mortem says it all. There's a distinct smell of disarray around the Italian, which won't be cured overnight.

Osasuna at home in La Liga on Saturday is no gimme either. Ancelotti is long in the tooth at age 65 and has seen it all. But the situation at Madrid requires the full depths of his nous. Who envisaged them and City feeling the heat so sharply?

Alonso's Anfield return ruined

A small side note from a busy evening: Celtic 's 3-1 win over RB Leipzig in Glasgow was an astonishingly good result. Well played.

Many more eyes were on Anfield, where Liverpool 's hospitality to their former midfielder Xabi Alonso extended as far as them tearing his Bayer Leverkusen side apart . We won't make this about Alonso, though. We'll focus on Arne Slot , who's killing it on Merseyside since being named head coach in the summer. Everything is working. Luis Diaz matched Gyokeres by dinking in three goals — including the filthy chip at the top of this section. What's the catch?

It could have been Alonso in Liverpool's technical area last night. But as James Pearce, our Liverpool correspondent, says on the TAFC podcast , nobody in their right mind would trade Slot away now.

News Round-Up: Mendy to receive most of unpaid City salary after employment tribunal

Manchester City have been ordered to pay Benjamin Mendy the majority of the wages they withheld from their former full-back after he was charged with sex offences while part of their squad. The now 30-year-old was cleared of six rapes at a trial in January 2023 and also found not guilty six months later of raping one woman and attempting to rape another. He took City to an employment tribunal, claiming £11million ($14.2m).

A consortium featuring NBA side Dallas Mavericks' head coach Jason Kidd is trying to buy shares in Crystal Palace . This is all part of a domino effect in which U.S. businessman John Textor selling his Palace stake would free him up to acquire a different club.

USMNT striker Josh Sargent has been flying at Norwich City, with four goals and five assists in this season's Championship . But he's had groin surgery and is out until 2025 , meaning no international duty with Mauricio Pochettino this month.

Elsewhere in the second tier of English football, Hull City signed Ecuadorian midfielder Oscar Zambrano on loan in August despite knowing he had doping allegations hanging over him. He's now been suspended . Hull say he and they will appeal.

Would Manchester United's fans prefer a new stadium to a redeveloped Old Trafford? Yes, according to a large survey . We've also got an interview with United's former assistant manager, Mike Phelan, today. He hasn't held back on their malaise, or the stranger episodes he encountered there.

If you happen to be knocking around middle England and non-League Harborough Town FC, you'll spot an ex- Tottenham Hotspur star there. Brazilian midfielder Sandro has joined them in the seventh tier . Because why not?

Show Viz

The thing that hooked me in this read about Angeball and the state of play under Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Hotspur was a line from our Jack Pitt-Brooke on the 2024-25 Premier League: "So far, Spurs are the best attacking team in the division."

That made me sit up, because they're only seventh in the table, and have been quite Spursy in flip-flopping between happiness and misery. But the numbers don't lie. They've scored the most goals. They've got the Premier League's best expected goals (xG) figure. On a good day, like Sunday, when they smashed visitors Aston Villa 4-1 , they're a major handful.

Forget the division-wide bragging rights. What matters more, and what you can see in the graphic at the top of this section, is that Tottenham are better under Postecoglou this season than in his 2023-24 debut year. They needed to be too. You can't go so far as saying he's got it cracked, because he clearly hasn't yet — but Spurs are improving, and they're on a steady path. After a fraught finish to last season , I'd take that.

Around The Athletic FC

Elite clubs are more and more reluctant to give managers or head coaches authority over recruitment and strategy. Edu leaving suggests Arsenal might actually be handing more power to their manager Mikel Arteta. Simon Hughes thinks that's a risk .

Paul Taylor has taken a close look at what Edu joining the group of teams run by Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis means for Forest specifically . No doubt at all that Edu did good things in his five years at Arsenal.

Luka Kulenovic is a striker who's going well at Heracles Almelo in the top division of Dutch football. He's 25 and completely uncapped. He is also Canadian-born — but Bosnia & Herzegovina (where his parents hail from) have called him up . If Canada boss Jesse Marsch plans to intervene, now's the time.

Our Fantasy Premier League gurus were already losing patience with Erling Haaland . His missed penalty in City's defeat to Sporting will only make Mohamed Salah more appealing.

Most clicked in yesterday's TAFC: Harry Wilson's 'lucky flick' for Fulham .

Catch a match

(Selected games)

Champions League: Club Bruges vs Aston Villa , 12.45pm/5.45pm — Paramount+, Fubo /TNT Sports; Bayern Munich vs Benfica, 3pm/8pm — CBS, Paramount+, Fubo/TNT Sports; Inter Milan vs Arsenal, 3pm/8pm — Paramount+, Fubo /TNT Sports; Paris Saint-Germain vs Atletico Madrid, 3pm/8pm — Paramount+/TNT Sports; Red Star Belgrade vs Barcelona , 3pm/8pm — Paramount+/TNT Sports.

Europa League : Besiktas vs Malmo, 10.30am/3.30pm — Paramount+/TNT Sports.

Championship: Preston North End vs Sunderland , 3pm/8pm — Paramount+/Sky Sports.

(Top photo: Gualter Fatia/)