Ruben Amorim left ‘stressed’ ahead of Manchester City showdown following weekend twist | OneFootball

Sporting CP head coach Ruben Amorim has admitted that Manchester City’s defeat to Bournemouth has now left him “stressed” about the meeting with Pep Guardiola’s side.

The Premier League champions fell behind to goals from Antoine Semenyo and Evanilson on an excellent afternoon for the Cherries on Saturday afternoon, before Josko Gvardiol would inspire a late surge from the visitors that would not bring an equaliser.

Manchester City’s first defeat of the Premier League season leaves them in second-place in the English top-flight table, trailing only Arne Slot’s Liverpool but retaining a five-point lead over fourth-placed Arsenal.

But while some believe that defeats for an injured Manchester City side might make them an ideal side to face at any stage of Pep Guardiola’s squad’s season, things have only been made worse for their next opponents, in the eyes of Sporting CP’s head coach.

Speaking during the build-up to City’s visit to the Portuguese capital on Tuesday night, Ruben Amorim has said that despite the injury chaos among Guardiola’s squad, the team to be fielded by the Catalan will be “world class” nonetheless.

“Any player they field is world class. They have some players out, but when we look at the eleven and the bench, we realise that they are a very difficult team to beat,” Amorim told the media this week.

“It’s also very difficult to predict what will happen, in which positions and on which wing each of the players will play, so we have to be strong in what we do. We believe in this a lot and we have to go into the game with the courage to try to win.”

Manchester City come into the game off the back of successive defeats at the hands of Tottenham in the Carabao Cup and Bournemouth in the Premier League, but the latter outcome has complicated things for Sporting’s coach ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.

“I’m stressed about the game, because we had a plan, City played AFC Bournemouth, it changed everything and I get stressed when I’m not sure what’s going to happen,” the 39-year-old said during his media conference.

“I take a lot of things from Pep Guardiola, Roberto De Zerbi, a lot of things from Jorge Jesus, and I watch a lot of football. I get inspired everywhere and there are always ideas that we can use.”

Manchester City will be eager to return to winning ways after their successive defeats in Lisbon on Tuesday night, as well as wanting to cement their position in the automatic qualification places for the last-16 of the UEFA Champions League.