Sporting 4-1 Manchester City: New Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim's team rallies to beat the Champions League

With the help of a hat-trick from Viktor Gyokeres, Sporting, the new manager of Manchester United, pulled off a spectacular comeback in the second half to defeat Premier League champions Manchester City 4-1.

On a night when the host club and its leaving head coach were under a lot of strain before the game, City exited with questions after losing to Bournemouth and Tottenham for the third straight game.

As they continue their undefeated start to the season, Sporting climbs to second place behind Liverpool in the Champions League standings, while City drops to sixth place after suffering their first defeat of the year.

In his farewell home game, Amorim, who will take over United this week, had to put up with a tense first half. Phil Foden took advantage of the hosts' nervous start by putting City ahead inside five minutes after defeating Hidemasa Morita.

Sporting could have been behind three goals at halftime, but Gyokeres, who was passed through by 17-year-old wing-back Geovany Quenda, put one back late in the half after burying a terrible missed chance.

The hosts made a comeback as a new squad, perhaps motivated by their departing head coach's halftime team talk. Maximiliano Araujo gave them the lead 20 seconds after the restart, and Gyokeres added to their lead four minutes later with a penalty kick.

The former Wolves players caused chaos in the exhausted Premier League team's defence, as City was unable to handle the direct dribbling of Pedro Goncalves, who set up Sporting's second goal, or Trincao, who was fouled by Josko Gvardiol for the penalty kick.

With 20 minutes remaining, Erling Haaland, who had a quiet night, had the ideal chance to give City a lifeline after Ousmane Diomande was deemed to have handled the ball following a challenge on Bernardo Silva. However, the striker's attempt went over the bar.

Gyokeres completed his hat-trick when he scored from the penalty spot after Matheus Nunes fouled replacement Geny Catamo, but Sporting had to hold on after their early second-half inspiration.

Amorim defeated Pep Guardiola for the first time, just over a month before his first Manchester derby, and City supporters were seen leaving early.

Pep: We can't dispute the outcome.
Pep Guardiola, the manager of Man City:

It's hard to describe. We had a great first half and got off to a great start. You have to score goals in football. You must celebrate Sporting after losing 4-1 and take the lesson to heart. We cannot dispute that they succeeded and that their transitions were effective, particularly for two of their objectives.

"Thanks to Sporting, we need to improve since we weren't clinical enough in the first half and then gave up a second goal. The transitions are there for them [the opponent] when you give them simple balls.

Silva: Man City is 'in a terrible place'
Bernardo Silva, a midfielder for Manchester City:

It's disheartening because we're currently in a somewhat dire situation. It appears that everything is going wrong.

"Even when we play well, we give up too readily and fail to score our chances. There's no doubt that we need to examine our own performance. Additionally, we must recover soon because it will be extremely difficult to recover from these losses.

"It's football. Reasons for what is happening to us are hard to come by. This squad hasn't lost three straight games in seven and a half seasons, as far as I can recall. It appears that this club is now headed in the wrong direction.

"The good news is that we are still in a strong position, particularly in the Premier League, despite losing these three games. We are still competing for everything in the main competitions after losing three games. But, of course, we must improve.

"Our injured players need to come back because we need them and it's just not good enough tonight."

Ruben Amorim, the outcome is meaningless:

All I can say is that there is nothing particularly significant about this [finding]; don't draw any conclusions from it.

One reality cannot be transported to another by us. We must change the way we play because Manchester United cannot match it.

We were extremely fortunate tonight, but it's deceptive. My players' celebration with the spectators was truly unique. Although I bring this with me, the pressure and environment in the Premier League are very different.

"It will be fun, very fun, and I'm ready for the challenge"

Gyokeres: Viktor Gyokeres, a forward for Sporting, should have scored more goals.

"Getting a goal is always good, but getting a hat-trick is even better. It was a fantastic night for us because winning the game was the most important thing.

"We didn't get off to a good start, and we knew it would be difficult. To be fair, we could have scored more than four goals, and we knew they would give us room. They also had the opportunity to score more.

"When you play superior opponents, you have to step up your game. I made an effort to continue my current course of action.