‘He is a magician’: how Ruben Amorim overcame his first crisis at Casa Pia

The Manchester United manager began his coaching career with a club in turmoil whose players cried when he left

Ruben Amorim’s players were in tears and, no, it wasn’t because he had labelled them the worst team in the club’s history, nor had he smashed any televisions, as he is reported to have done last weekend following Manchester United’s defeat by Brighton. And yet Amorim’s current troubles are simply a magnified version of his first steps into coaching at Casa Pia, the Portuguese third-tier team he took charge of aged 33.

Amorim’s future was in doubt, his tactics were questioned, he was losing games: it all seems familiar. And yet he survived, which is not to say this is how it will end at United. In this chapter of his career, a portrait of a remarkable young coach with unusual empathy does emerge. Marcus Rashford might raise an arched eyebrow at that but perhaps he should stick around to discover the real Ruben. Amorim is likely to be a force in European coaching as long as the horror show of United’s chaotic ownership doesn’t drag him into a vortex of failure.

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