Gyokeres hat-trick in statement win for Amorim
Sporting CP marked its final home game under Ruben Amorim in stunning fashion as Viktor Gyokeres scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 Champions League rout of Manchester City.
Amorim – who will take over as head coach of City's fierce rivals Manchester United next week – oversaw a stunning fightback after Phil Foden put Pep Guardiola's men in front.
Foden blasted past Franco Israel at his near post after dispossessing Hidemasa Morita near the edge of the Sporting area, as City dominated the early stages.
However, in-form striker Gyokeres raced clear of the City backline to lob Ederson seven minutes before half-time, netting his 21st goal of the season in all competitions.
City was then caught cold at the start of the second period as Maximiliano Araujo finished a flowing move almost straight from the kick-off, before Gyokeres extended their lead from the penalty spot following Josko Gvardiol's foul on Francisco Trincao.
Erling Haaland had the chance to drag City back into the game but struck the crossbar with a penalty awarded for Ousmane Diomande's handball, then Gyokeres claimed the match ball by converting the game's third spot-kick, conceded by former Sporting man Matheus Nunes.
Amorim, who will arrive at Old Trafford on 11 November, leaves Sporting in a fantastic position in the Champions League's group phase with 10 points from four games.
City's first defeat in the competition this season, and its third in a row overall, leaves it on seven points.
Gyokeres is the first Sporting player to score a hat-trick in the European Cup/Champions League since Antonio Oliveria did so against Dinamo Zagreb in 1982, and the first player to net a treble against City in the competition since Christopher Nkunku for RB Leipzig in 2021.
After its Carabao Cup exit to Tottenham and Premier League loss at Bournemouth, City has suffered three straight defeats for the first time since doing so between May and August 2021. the Cityzens last lost three on the spin within the same season, meanwhile, in April 2018.
It is also just the third time a Guardiola team has conceded four goals in a Champions League match, along with a 4-0 defeat against Real Madrid with Bayern Munich in April 2014 and a 4-0 defeat to Barcelona with City in October 2016.
