Benfica’s defeat to Famalicao last night secured Sporting the title, and at their celebrations in Lisbon coach Ruben Amorim made his plan very clear.
His departures from the Lions had looked certain this summer, and there were no shortage of rumours linking him to Chelsea. That only intensified in recent times as other potential destinations closed off to him, while our incumbent boss had another period of intense pressure.
But Amorim’s comments last night made his intentions clear – he spoke about his desire to win a second title back to back with Sporting, and joked in a self-deprecating and apologetic way about the flirtations he had had with Premier League teams along the way.
“They said we could only win the title ever 18 years,” he said in his speech in front of the fans. “They said we could only win it without fans [during Covid]. They said we can’t win two in a row. We will see,” he concluded, conducting an actual physical mic drop to finish.
Rúben Amorim. Mic drop. pic.twitter.com/3EIBxLqjNY
— B24 (@B24PT) May 6, 2024
A week is a long time in football
It’s amazing how quickly can turn around in 7 days. In both directions, things have moved rapidly since Ruben Amorim’s flight to England little over a week ago. His move to Liverpool looked certain, then didn’t happen. The talks with West Ham clearly went nowhere, and last night’s comments all but sealed his place at Sporting for another year at least.
In that same period Pochettino took his medicine after an embarrassing beating from Arsenal, went 2-0 down against Aston Villa early on and really felt under pressure, then came back to draw that game and win the next two.
He now feels very secure in his position as Chelsea coach if he can win his final 3 games, while Amorim is making his intentions clear too. It’s crazy how quickly the picture has changed.
