Portugal’s professional football Sporting CP has made an extraordinary move to defeat “giant” Manchester City (Man City), which is seeking its fifth consecutive English Premier League (EPL) title, by three goals.
Sporting, led by head coach Ruben Amorim, defeated Manchester City 4-1 in the fourth home game of the 2024-2025 UEFA Champions League (UCL) phase at Istadiu José Alballad in Lisbon, Portugal on the 6th (Korea time).
Sporting, who beat Lille (France) 2-0 in the first round, defeated Sturm Graz (Austria) 2-0 after drawing 1-1 with PSV Eindhoven (the Netherlands) and even beat Manchester City to continue their upward trend with 3 wins and 1 draw.
On the other hand, Manchester City (2 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss) lost for the first time in four UCL games this season.
Manchester City, which lost 1-2 in the round of 16 of the League Cup against Tottenham at the end of last month, was caught 1-2 in the league match against Bournemouth and lost again on the same day, losing three consecutive official matches.
It is the first time in about six years and seven months that Man City, a strong team that has won four consecutive EPL games for the first time in history, has lost three consecutive games since April 2018.
Manager Amorim, who will move to EPL Manchester United (Manchester United) after leading the team until the A-match break in November, impressed by giving a heavy defeat to local rival Manchester City even before taking the helm of Manchester United.
The match against Manchester City was the last home game played by coach Amorim as a Sporting member, and it was like saying goodbye to home fans, creating a stir to catch Manchester City, which is considered the best team of the time.
The player who led Sporting to a landslide victory was Swedish striker Viktor Jekheres.
Sporting, who lost a point to Manchester City’s key midfielder Phil Foden four minutes into the game, tied the game in the 38th minute when Yekeres, who received a penetrating pass from the back, advanced to the gate and finished calmly.
Maximiliano Araujo also penetrated the left side of the penalty area at the start of the second half and opened Manchester City’s goal protected by goalkeeper Ederson with a strong left-footed shot.
Sporting, who showed another quick counterattack shortly after the turnaround, secured a clear victory in the second minute of the second half when Franciscoot Trinkang won a penalty against Yoshko Gvardiol.
Kicker Yekeres shook the net to make it 3-1. Yekeres also scored a hat trick in the bottom corner of the net in the 34th minute of the second half when Matheus Nunes was able to score a penalty kick.
Manchester City led 73%-27% of the ball possession and 20-9 in the number of shots, and went on the offensive throughout the game, but only scored one goal and bowed. 메이저사이트
Defending champion Real Madrid, who recently surprised fans by announcing the Ballon d’Or award ceremony ‘Boycott’, lost 1-3 at home against AC Milan (Italy).
Vinicius Junior, who was mentioned as a strong candidate for the Ballon d’Or award, scored on a penalty kick in the 23rd minute of the first half when he was dragged 0-1 by Rodri (Man City).
However, Real Madrid collapsed in the 39th minute after giving up consecutive goals to Álvaro Morata and Tijani Rheinders in the 29th minute of the second half.
Liverpool (England), which leads the EPL, defeated Leverkusen (Germany), which won the Bundesliga unbeaten title last season, 4-0 at home.
Luis Díaz scored in the 16th and 38th minutes of the second half, and scored another goal in the extra time of the second half to complete a hat trick. Cody Hakpo also scored in the 18th minute of the second half.
Celtic (Scotland), where Yang Hyun-joon stepped on the ground in the 29th minute of the second half and played for about 16 minutes, also beat Leipzig (Germany) 3-1 at home.
Yang Hyun-joon, who recorded only one shot without an attack point, received an easy rating of 6.3 on the soccer statistics media WhoScored.
