- Ruben Amorim saw his Manchester United team stage a late comeback to defeat Manchester City
- The Portuguese coach has now beaten City twice this season, with two different clubs
- Amorim’s two victories over Pep Guardiola are particularly embarrassing for the City boss
Ruben Amorim is enjoying pitting his wits against Pep Guardiola, this season. The Portuguese coach scored his second victory over the Manchester City boss yesterday, with his Manchester United team wheeling away from the Etihad Stadium with all three points, following a dramatic 2-1 victory.
The late, late show from United means that Guardiola’s reigning Premier League champions have only won once in their last 11 games in all competitions, losing eight. In the league that they have dominated for the last four years, City lie in fifth place, nine points behind leaders Liverpool, having played a game more. In European competition, Pep’s men are 22nd in the Champions League league phase, just one point above Paris Saint-Germain in the elimination zone. City travel to Paris in the next match day, where defeat could spell disaster for them in the competition they won last year.
Despite Joško Gvardiol heading City into the lead in the first half, the blue half of Manchester were not to regain local bragging rights for Christmas, having also lost their most recent competitive game against United in May, when the Red Devils won the FA Cup final with a 2-1 victory over Guardiola’s team. First Matheus Nunes gifted United a penalty in the 88th minute, which Bruno Fernandes coolly converted. Then two minutes later, a perfectly weighed ball over the City defence from Lisandro Martinez found the onrushing Amad Diallo, who effortlessly flicked the ball over Ederson’s head and rolled it into an empty net to secure all three points for the red half of Manchester.
In the aftermath of yet another defeat for City, one stat stood out among all the other embarrassing numbers being hurled in the champions’ direction. Ruben Amorim has won more of Manchester City’s last 11 matches than Pep Guardiola has.
At the beginning of November, City visited Portuguese champions Sporting CP in the Champions League, and were promptly sent packing after coming out on the receiving end of a thumping 4-1 humbling. That Sporting CP team were managed by? Current Manchester United head coach, Ruben Amorim.
With Pep Guardiola only recording a solitary victory, over Nottingham Forest, in the last 11 matches it would appear his Manchester United counterpart has enjoyed more success in the same run of games, with two different teams. Both of whom would have been considered the underdogs going into their respective games against City.
The Premier League champions’ next challenge is a trip to Aston Villa, who sit just one place and two points behind City in the table. City lost the same fixture 1-0 last season. Could a similar result this time round put Pep Guardiola on the brink?
