Ruben Amorim: Sporting Lisbon boss making huge impact and drawing comparisons to Jose Mourinho

2 years ago 35

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Sporting Lisbon fans jokingly refer to it as "the best moment of the week".

That is not when their team take to the pitch, but instead when manager Ruben Amorim speaks. Given how successful the Portuguese giants have been lately, it just highlights how much Amorim is revered by the green half of Lisbon. The club's supporters have even started a social media account where they count down the days to his news conferences.

The 37-year-old former international, merely a week older than Cristiano Ronaldo - his team-mate at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups - has revolutionised the art of managerial communication and brought a breath of fresh air to a country whose football discussions are mostly dominated by rivalry nonsense.

A natural-born leader, he has transformed a club that had been constantly at war with itself for over a decade, having reached its lowest point in May 2018 when masked ultras broke into the training ground to attack players and staff members with sticks and belts.

In what was deemed a miracle, Amorim managed to end a 19-year league title drought last season after bookmakers had given them only a 3% chance of winning it, behind Benfica, Porto and Braga.

Sporting have now reached the Champions League last 16 for the second time in their history, but do not expect him to brag about that before Tuesday's game against Manchester City at the Alvalade stadium.

Despite being touted as arguably the best Portuguese coach to have emerged since Jose Mourinho in the early 2000s, this is a man who does not get carried away easily.

Whenever he is on the microphone, he still comes across as someone who does not take himself very seriously and speaks his mind freely.

"The perfect word to describe him is 'genuine'," his close friend and centre-back Bruno Simao, who has known him since the age of nine, explained to BBC Sport.

"Nobody tells him what to say. When he sits in front of the cameras, fans know that's him, not some product of media training."

Former Brazilian striker Evandro Roncatto got to play by his side and also worked under him.

"He has no time for silly games, he's straightforward, he doesn't lie to you," he said. "We've got to admire somebody like this."

Sporting fans certainly do and now recognise in Amorim the biggest star of their team.

'What if it goes well?'

When Amorim was first unveiled by Sporting in March 2020, however, there were a lot of raised eyebrows.

The decision to pay the 10m euros buyout clause of a manager who, three months before, still found himself working in the Portuguese third tier with Braga's B side - and was yet to complete a full season on the bench - was called "madness" by club legend Luis Figo.

The fee made him the third-most expensive coach in history.

Regardless of the impact Amorim had made right away for Braga's first team, winning 10 out of 13 games, including a 7-1 thrashing of Belenenses SAD on his debut and victories over Porto (twice), Sporting (twice) and Benfica, it sounded like a desperate move. Not even the fact he had lifted the League Cup in the process did much to convince doubters.

On top of that, he did not have the necessary coaching badges to work in the top flight and, as a result, could not give instructions and be registered as manager on matchdays. He was instead listed as an assistant.

Sporting still chose to go ahead with the deal and so, in his first news conference, Amorim delivered the message that has defined his time. "What if it goes well?" he asked.

So far, it has gone amazingly well - no-one will dispute that.

"People thought the 10m euros fee Sporting agreed for him was insane, but they don't even mention it anymore. It's now a bargain," Simao said.

In less than two years, Amorim has led the Lions to a Portuguese league title, a Supercup and two League Cup triumphs, giving young players a chance to shine along the way.

While left-back Nuno Mendes has been snapped up by Paris St-Germain, others like Pedro Goncalves, Matheus Nunes, Pedro Porro and Goncalo Inacio are on the same path.

Next destination: Premier League?

A combative midfielder who struggled with injuries for most of his career and had to retire prematurely at the age of 32, Amorim has never hidden the fact he has been a fan of cross-town rivals Benfica his whole life.

It says a lot about the work he has been doing that Sporting supporters do not even seem to care about it.

Until late last month, they had, in fact, never witnessed their side lose a home game in a domestic competition during his reign. Carlos Carvalhal's Braga were the first team to beat them at Alvalade.

Unsurprisingly, other clubs have already tried to lure him away from Lisbon. He's reportedly turned down an offer to take charge of RB Leipzig and been linked with Manchester United and Leeds United.

"A while ago," Roncatto recalls, "when I was working as sporting director of Pinhalnovense, we had a friendly game at their training ground and I told Amorim 'this is your last season in Portugal'. He just smiled back.

"But he deserves all this. He's a pure guy and remains loyal to the staff who have been with him since his first job with Casa Pia in 2018."

His release clause this time is set at 30m euros.

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