Manchester City were stunned when they lost 4-1 away to Sporting Lisbon in Ruben Amorim’s final home game before he becomes Manchester United head coach later this month.

City started well and were ahead after just four minutes, while Phil Foden continued his streak of only scoring in Champions League games this season. The visitors then played with Amorim’s side for most of the half, but their recent inability to keep clean sheets was once again noticeable. Viktor Gyokeres, who had botched an early one-on-one, made amends seven minutes before half-time, firing a shot past Ederson to make it 1-1 at the break.

And City had every reason to rue their wastefulness in the opening moments of the second half when Max Araujo gave Sporting the lead with a wonderful shot before a thunderous penalty from Gyokeres three minutes later after a Josko Gvardiol foul made it 3-1 cared.

A fairly generous handball decision gave Erling Haaland the chance to score from the penalty spot with 20 of the 90 minutes remaining, but his attempt went high on the Lisbon night after hitting the crossbar. Instead, the third penalty of the game – Sporting’s second – ensured Gyokeres completed his hat-trick in the 80th minute and City conceded four goals in a Champions League game for the first time since 2016.

Sam Lee analyzes the game below.

Where does this result leave City’s season?

Goals can change pretty quickly in football. Most people would have assumed City and Real Madrid would finish first and second in the Champions League’s new 36-team league stage format, and perhaps they still will, but the safety net provided to both is Placement in the top eight and direct qualification for the round of 16 is sufficient.

How many times has Madrid gone off the rails after the round of 16 draw, only to come out on top when the games themselves were played? City, as we know, often has these spells, but they usually peak in the spring.

(Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

But the immediate focus for Guardiola’s men must be beating Brighton away from home on Saturday evening to get back on track before the November international break. In truth, losing points again probably won’t be fatal given how many games are left and the potential for another strong result, but they seem vulnerable at the moment and simply need to do so as quickly as possible fix.

City currently looks weaker in all areas

Is there any consolation in saying that City were pretty good here for the most part, but were completely undone by a few forays from Sporting? Probably not, because what seems to be the recurring theme over the last few weeks is that City look kind of like themselves, just…weaker in every way.

Like an AI-generated imitation, everything looks good until you look closer. City should have been clear after a largely impressive first half in which they played good football, but they were too easily outpaced by quick movement to equalize and that is exactly how the two goals came at the start of the second half .

4 – Tonight was only the third time a Pep Guardiola-managed team has conceded four goals in a UEFA Champions League game, joining Bayern Munich’s 4-0 defeat to Real Madrid in April 2014 and 0 Lost by 4 against Barcelona with Man City in October 2016. Stunned. pic.twitter.com/bYYx79WiK4

– OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 5, 2024

They even managed to stabilize after that and looked solid enough, only to concede a second penalty. If they appear weaker in all areas, it is because key players from all outfield areas have been taken out of the game due to injuries, and in any case there are players left in the midfield who can hit the ball around well, but are not as good at winning duels and running back to stop counterattacks.

(Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images)

This leaves the defense exposed too often and can lead to plays like this.

What’s wrong with Haaland?

One thing about Haaland’s recent form is that usually it was hardly his fault when he didn’t score – in many games teams used three men against him and City barely tried to find him to give him a chance .

It was only a few weeks ago that he thrilled the world with a remarkable strike in this competition against Sparta Prague, before capping off a fine City break with his second goal of the night, so there are more than a few signs of life.

Haaland wastes his penalty in the second half (Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images)

It just seemed on Tuesday that he had fallen into the vicious circle that was affecting City as a whole – if something could go wrong, it would go wrong. City played some good stuff in the first half and threatened to blow Sporting away, and they created some good chances for Haaland but he almost seemed to rush them. He is by far their biggest scoring threat and simply needs to make them count.

When he scored the penalty in the second half after City had been rocked by two quick shots to make it 3-1, it felt like one of those nights. And that was it, for everyone involved.

What did Pep Guardiola say?

We will let you know after he speaks at the post-match press conference.

What’s next for Manchester City?

Saturday November 9th: Brighton & Hove Albion (A), Premier League, 5:30pm GMT, 12:30pm ET

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(Top photo: Getty Images)