Ruben Amorim has joked that he may be seen as the new Sir Alex Ferguson by Manchester United fans if his Sporting Lisbon side beat Manchester City on Tuesday night.
Amorim will join United officially after the international break as permanent replacement for Erik ten Hag, who was sacked by the Red Devils last week after a dismal start to the season.
The 39-year-old Portuguese has two more games as Sporting head coach before taking over at Old Trafford, with one of them the UEFA Champions League home clash against United’s neighbours on Tuesday.
“If the result is very negative, expectations will drop and I don’t think that’s a bad starting point, when you begin at Manchester United,” Amorim said as he previewed the match.
“If we win they’ll think the new Alex Ferguson has arrived, which is very difficult to maintain.
“I’m fully aware that I’m going to be judged as a manager on this game, and only on this game, and I realise what [people] can take from this depending on the result.”
Ferguson won 38 trophies during 26 years as Manchester United manager before retiring in 2013.
Sporting have won 14 of their past 15 games in all competitions, only losing the Portuguese Super Cup this season.
Both City and Sporting are on seven points from three Champions League games so far.
In 2022 City beat Sporting 5-0 on aggregate in the last 16 of the competition.
“I feel like I’m a better coach [now],” said Amorim. “Unfortunately what I feel is that Pep Guardiola has also become an even better coach, so the gap remains.
“[City have] the best team in the world and the best coach in the world.”
