Ruben Amorim’s conviction faces familiar test as Manchester powers decline

Pep Guardiola ’s first Manchester derby pitted him against a Portuguese manager and featured a debutant goalkeeper. Nine years on, there are certain similarities, even if some of them will be superficial. Sunday will pit him against Ruben Amorim who, whereas Guardiola’s rivalry with Jose Mourinho could be bitter, smilingly calls the Catalan “the best coach in the league”. The new goalkeeper to start could be Gianluigi Donnarumma for Manchester City , but will not be Manchester United ’s Senne Lammens, with Amorim already deciding the error-prone Altay Bayindir will play instead .

But there is a fundamental difference. Guardiola against Mourinho seemed to herald that Manchester was becoming the world’s footballing capital. Now Sunday’s match could kick off with both sides in the lower half of the Premier League. “The table in the moment doesn’t matter,” said Amorim, though, for the first time in 2020, United will start a derby above City . In turn, that reflects the fact that, for the first time since 2004-05, City have lost two of their opening three league games. United, meanwhile, are coming off their lowest league finish for half a century.

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Amorim and Guardiola go head to head in the Manchester derby (Getty Images)

Two teams who are, depending upon interpretation, in transition or decline can look further weakened. City without the injured Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki, while John Stones is a doubt. United have lost Diogo Dalot, Mason Mount and Matheus Cunha. Plans will have to be rejigged again.

United have spent around £250m in 2025, bringing in seven players. City have spent closer to £350m, recruiting a dozen. They are remodelling their squads, overseen by allies with a background in interior design. Or their wives do, anyway.

Amorim and Hugo Viana were teammates as players, manager and director of football at Sporting CP. Their wives are so close they run an interior design firm together. They cross the Mancunian divide to remain close. “We have different jobs, we have different clubs,” said Amorim. “We have dinner all the time. We don't talk about football. I'm red, he's blue. But we are really, really close friends. That will not change.”

Amorim might have been blue, too. When City hired Viana, the assumption for many was that he would have been their next manager. It may have given United an added urgency in pursuing the Portuguese. So far, Amorim has fared better with Viana building his squad than United’s various powerbrokers. The United head coach is at least confident his friend’s knowledge of his thinking and methods will not affect Sunday’s derby. “It has no influence,” he said.

His best Premier League result nevertheless came at the Etihad Stadium, December’s 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium that turned on an error by Matheus Nunes, a Sporting charge of Amorim and Viana’s, allowing Amad Diallo to orchestrate a late smash-and-grab raid.

If it wasn’t entirely convincing, nor was it the start of a surge by Amorim’s United. They promptly lost their next four matches in all competitions and six of their next nine in the Premier League.

Amorim approaches his second trip to the Etihad with United’s fortunes decidedly mixed, and the Carabao Cup exit to Grimsby a nadir , but with a conviction his revamped side have improved since then.

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Amorim is convinced that United are a better team this season (Getty Images)

“I think we are a better team,” he said. “Any aspect, if you see the data, we are a different team. We are ready to play the game. But we have to show onside.” It was a recognition that words alone are not enough. Nor, indeed, are flattering statistics, though United have had the most shots in the Premier League this season.

They were accustomed to topping more prestigious tables, though, and if they threat could be reduced by the absence of Cunha and Mount, it leaves Amorim with decisions: whether to play Bruno Fernandes, Amad or both in the front three for the first time in the league since he spend £200m on other attackers, if to give Benjamin Sesko a maiden top-flight start.

There is another element to selection. With Alejandro Garnacho sold, with Marcus Rashford out on loan, with Kobbie Mainoo having been keen to join him, United’s unbroken run of naming an academy player in every matchday squad, which dates back to 1937, feels at risk in Amorim’s reign.

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Amorim beat Guardiola twice last season, with Sporting and United (Getty Images)

“I don't want to be the guy that broke that record,” he said. “If you see the past of Manchester United , it's built on kids that grew up here and stayed here for a long time. I think that should be our goal in the future.”

Another goal also has a local flavour. They have not finished as the top team in Manchester since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. They had not finished 12 places below City until last season, though. Yet Amorim’s results indicated his problems came less against City , Liverpool and Arsenal than the vast swathe of moneyed mid-table clubs.

They can show a defiance as underdogs. “We will be ready against a very, very good team,” said Amorim. The long-term task, though, remains to be to make United a very, very good team again.