Incoming Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim endured an emotional final night as Sporting’s head coach as the Portuguese champions overcame a two-goal deficit to win 4-2 away against his former club Braga.
His former captain Ricardo Horta scored two first-half goals to put the hosts ahead at half-time. However, substitute Hidemasa Morita tapped in a rebound at a corner a minute after being brought on by Amorim to halve the deficit after the break.
Then, two stunning long-range strikes from captain Morten Hjulmand and teenage forward Conrad Harder, another Amorim substitute, completed the comeback. The latter even scored a second in the fourth minute of added time to ensure Sporting won their seventh straight match to end Amorim’s time in charge with an enthralling turnaround.
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Approaching two dozen players and staff ran over to the departing coach following the full-time whistle, engulfing him in a massive huddle inside the away technical following the fourth goal. Once the full-time whistle blew, Amorim animatedly embraced his players one by one on the pitch before again being surrounded by more than a dozen of them in a huddle as they celebrated.
The defending champions have won their first 11 matches of the league season and all but one of their 17 fixtures across all competitions since losing 4-3 to Porto in the Portuguese Super Cup. The only aberration was a 1-1 draw with PSV in Eindhoven, in which Daniel Braganca scored an 83rd-minute equaliser after the hosts dominated proceedings.
Amorim leaves Lisbon after winning 164 of the 231 fixtures he oversaw for a 71.43% win percentage, losing 33 and drawing 34. During that time, Sporting scored 510 goals—over two per game—and conceded 199—less than one per match—for a +311 goal difference.
