Sporting faced a disappointing 3-0 defeat against Borussia Dortmund at home in the first leg of the Champions League playoffs on Tuesday, putting them on the brink of elimination.
Since Amorim's move to Manchester, the Portuguese champions have failed to secure a victory in any of their five Champions League matches, while United's position at 13th in the Premier League indicates that his time there has not been particularly fruitful.
“We weren’t very proactive and we lost our collective balance,” Sporting coach Rui Borges said.
“We let the game become the way Borussia like it, with space to run into in the final third. We can’t be like that against these teams. In the Champions League, we need to be at 200% — and we’re not even at 100%.”
Viktor Gyokeres had been a key player when Sporting triumphed over Manchester City 4-1 in November, during Amorim’s final European match in charge. However, on Tuesday against Dortmund, Gyokeres started on the bench due to ongoing fitness issues.
When he was substituted into the match in the 59th minute, Dortmund scored just a minute later, and Sporting struggled to provide effective support to Gyokeres for the remainder of the game.
Although Sporting created better opportunities in a lackluster first half, the dynamics shifted when Dortmund realized that crosses could exploit the weaknesses in the Portuguese defense.
A high ball from the right found Serhou Guirassy, who netted his 10th Champions League goal of the season. Shortly after, Guirassy assisted Pascal Gross, who scored his first goal for Dortmund with an awkward finish off his knee. As Sporting pressed forward in search of a goal, they were caught out when Karim Adeyemi added a third for Dortmund on the counterattack.
While Sporting has struggled to find its rhythm following the coaching change, it appears that Dortmund may have regained their momentum.
The previous season's Champions League runner-up was competing in its first European match following Niko Kovac's appointment as the replacement for the dismissed Nuri Sahin. This marked a successful return to the Champions League for the former Bayern Munich and Monaco manager, although he faces challenges with Dortmund currently sitting in 11th place in the German league.
In an interview with Prime Video, Kovac emphasized that “it’s just the first half” of the two-leg playoff but commended his team's mindset.“We showed mentality, physicality," aggression, he remarked.