Slot crushes Leverkusen after the break; New United coach Amorim stunts against City

NOS Football•yesterday, 10:53 PM

Liverpool crushed Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League. The leader in the Premier League won on Tuesday evening after a difficult first half (4-0) against German champion Bayer Leverkusen, thanks to goals from Luis Diaz (3x) and Cody Gakpo.

While he was still employed by Sporting Clube de Portugal, Ruben Amorim stole the hearts of fans of his new club Manchester United. With Sporting he won 4-1 against Manchester City, United’s arch-rival.

After the victory over Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend, Arne Slot can call himself the proud leader in the Premier League with Liverpool. With a total of 13 wins, one draw and only one defeat in the first 15 matches, the Reds are experiencing the best start to the season in club history.

And while Slot may not even have been the first choice of the Liverpool management to succeed success coach Jürgen Klopp. That was Xabi Alonso, the club legend who unapproachably led Bayer Leverkusen to its first Bundesliga title. In advance, the duel between Slot and Alonso was already a titanic battle.

At Anfield Road, Slot posted three Dutchmen in the starting line-up with Virgil Van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo. Not them, but their compatriot Jeremie Frimpong, who started in the starting line-up for the Leverkusen, claimed the leading role in the first half as the great animator on the right flank, without resulting in a goal.

Liverpool escaped a penalty in the 21st minute, when the emerging Frimpong was tapped by Van Dijk in the penalty area, but Dutch referee Danny Makkelie did not award a penalty.

Just before half-time, Liverpool fans thought for a moment that their club had fallen 0-1 behind. Once again Frimpong took off and the winger charged alone at goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher. He then shot beautifully into the top corner, but it turned out that he had taken the ball with his hand. So no goal.

Just as against Brighton & Hove Albion (2-1), Slot saw that his team was trumped in the first half by Leverkust, who had more ball possession (57 to 43 percent).

That changed completely in the second half. After Mo Salah failed to appreciate Gakpo’s cross fifteen minutes after the break, Luis Diaz made it 1-0 in the 61st minute, with Curtis Jones stealing the show with a sublime through ball.

Two minutes later, Gakpo headed Liverpool to 2-0. At first it seemed offside, but Piero Hincapié’s leg turned out to cancel it out. Diaz made the final score 4-0 with his second and third goals and scored a hat trick.

As a result, Liverpool has the full spoils of twelve points after four wins, while Leverkusen has seven points from four matches due to this loss.

Before the match, Sporting said goodbye to coach Ruben Amorim, who will start at Manchester United on November 11. An away match against SC Braga awaits in the Portuguese league on November 10 and tonight was his last home match as coach.

With a gigantic banner bearing the word ‘obrigado’ (thank you), the fans expressed their gratitude to the departing coach. He received a nice souvenir from chairman Frederico Varandas. Amorim became champion twice with Sporting, in 2021 and 2024.

It was a beautiful evening for Amorim and the Sporting fans, although the home club fell behind 0-1 due to an early goal from Phil Foden in the fourth minute.

Sporting came back into the match in the 38th minute through Viktor Gyökeres. The Swedish top scorer in the Portuguese competition completed a quick counter with a nice bounce.

Just after halftime, Maximiliano Araújo gave the home team the lead and Gyökeres made it 3-1 from the penalty spot three minutes later. That was the case at first, because Erling Haaland shot a penalty hard onto the crossbar in the 69th minute.

In the final phase it also became 4-1 for Sporting due to Gyökeres’ second penalty. With his third goal of the evening and his fifth in total, the Swedish striker is currently the top scorer of the Champions League, together with Harry Kane of Bayern Munich.

After the elimination in the League Cup against Tottenham Hotspur and the league loss against Bournemouth, this is the third defeat in a row for City, which had easily won the last two matches in the Champions League and now has seven points after four games.

Portuguese leader Sporting, which only lost points against PSV (1-1), is now second behind the untouchable Liverpool with ten points from four matches in the Champions League. Manchester City is sixth with seven points.