sport news What is Liverpool's No 1 candidate to replace Jurgen Klopp REALLY like? Mail ... trends now
Flumes of fluorescent green smoke and whiffs of Bifanas pollute the breezy air outside Estadio Jose Alvalade. The Super Bock is flowing and thousands of Sporting fans, conducted by the Brigada ultra group, are adding their voice to a war cry.
Given the league title has ended up in the green half of the Portuguese capital just once since 2002, a sense of trepidation is in the air and the cacophonic noise feels rather tribal. The leader of the tribe, then, is former Benfica midfielder Ruben Amorim.
His face adorns a t-shirt of one elderly fan, alongside the phrase ‘e se corre bem?’. Asked by Mail Sport for a translation, the gentleman offers little more than: ‘Ruben? I love’. In this corner of Lisbon at least, and in the ivory towers of several European clubs, that sentiment is shared.
Enough outing ourselves as a British journalist on a jolly, Google kindly informs the phrase is a nod to Amorim’s first press conference as a fresh-faced 34-year-old taking the Sporting job after just 13 games of top-flight management, becoming their fourth boss of the term to much furore.
Asked a multitude of questions on what he would do if his tenure ended as catastrophically as his predecessors, with undertones of understandable skepticism from the local media, Amorim simply answered: ‘And if it goes well?’.
Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim has emerged as the favourite to succeed Jurgen Klopp
Mail Sport was in Lisbon to watch 39-year-old Amorim in action on the touchline as he guided his side to a deserved 2-1 victory over bitter rivals Benfica in the league on Saturday night
Amorim is a hero among Sporting fans after guiding them to the Portuguese title in 2020-21
And it has gone well. Better than anyone could have expected. After earning a well-deserved 2-1 win over bitter rivals Benfica on Saturday night, Amorim looks set to win a second league title in four years - with an upcoming Cup final to boot. They are four points clear with a game in hand.
The significance should not be understated. Before Amorim’s arrival, Sporting had won the league just twice in four decades. Only five teams have ever won the Portuguese title - compared to 24 in England. Benfica and Porto account for 76 per cent of that.
In Portugal there is an old adage, ‘Portugal is Lisbon, the rest is landscape’. Amorim has changed the landscape, and it was eye-opening to watch him up close and personal in the Derby de Lisboa on Saturday evening.
Those Liverpool fans hoping for a Jurgen Klopp clone will be disappointed. If anything, they will get a manager more akin to Pep Guardiola - in his mannerisms at least. He patrolled his technical area like a man possessed, metaphorically kicking every ball from the sidelines.
He paced back and forth like a lion waiting for feeding time and crouched down when he could no longer take the angst of the blood-and-thunder battle. Every now and then, he would leap up and bark orders at his stars, with some being called over to the side for a grilling.
Despite his energetic style, he rarely lost his composure even when Benfica’s Angel di Maria might have been sent off for a raised fist. The only time Amorim did break from calm was when his midfielder Morten Hjulmand played two backwards passes in the space of seconds.
Arms went flailing and the young coach had seen enough, with the Danish player getting substituted
