I heard Noel Gallagher praise Ruben Amorim tactics vs Man City - before sending Man United dig

It was always going to be about Ruben Amorim as much as it was Sporting and Manchester City in the Champions League. The narrative was inescapable.

Even City's back-to-back defeats, injury crisis, the return of Matheus Nunes or some playful antagonising from Benfica fan Bernardo Silva couldn't distract attention from the next Manchester United manager. A huge, three-tiered banner saying 'thank you' to Amorim in his final home game blanketed any hope of focussing on the game of football at hand.

Amorim is bound for United and this was his final home game at Sporting, and he was keen to stress that the 90 minutes at the Estadio Jose Avalade would have no bearing on future Manchester derbies.

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"If the result is negative, expectations will lower," Amorim joked pre-match. "If we win, they'll think the new Alex Ferguson has arrived!"

Those expectations at Old Trafford will have been tempered when Phil Foden easily picked the pocket of a hapless midfielder and wrongfooted the goalkeeper in a calamitous defensive effort to open the scoring. City created chance after chance, and were confident enough to bring out the flicks and tricks - but Amorim's men came again and earned an equaliser on the break.

City controlled the first half despite going in level and will have been confident of restoring their lead, but within 20 seconds of the restart it was Sporting who went ahead. And 22 seconds after the resulting kick-off from City, Josko Gvardiol gave away a clumsy penalty. On commentary, City fan Noel Gallagher summed it up: "Amorim's team talk has had a big effect on them."

Amorim and the City camp were keen to stress how this contest wouldn't influence either their tactics or United's for December's derby at the Etihad. This was a different game, with different emotions, and crucially, with different players.

However, as Gallagher pointed out, Amorim found a way to withstand the pressure, ride their luck and get a goal on the break. The change in approach at half-time was clear - they would take the game to City rather than let the visitors dictate.

They came out reinvigorated to go two goals ahead in two minutes, and City will be wary of his in-game tactical changes when Amorim's United face them in the future.

A side-note on Gallagher, who was a revelation in the commentary box. He was biased, of course, but decried the decision to award City a penalty, hammered Gvardiol for giving away a spot kick, and criticised his own side as much as he praised them. He even questioned the logic of bringing on Kevin De Bruyne at 4-1 down.

"This is the story of our season," he said in the second half, adding that most fans he knows are realistic to the problems City have experienced this season. He performed better than the Blue shirts below him - but he did offer a jibe to United as City slumped to defeat.

"This will give them false hope," he sighed.

Guardiola will know which of Amorim's tactics will stay in Lisbon and which attributes were down to the emotion of the night. His friend Gallagher might also remind him of their half-time resurgence ahead of the visit of United in five weeks' time.