Published: 09:18 EDT, 29 October 2024 | Updated: 09:23 EDT, 29 October 2024
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Ruben Amorim's career has had a connection with Manchester United dating back to his playing days.
The Sporting head coach is in talks with the Red Devils over the vacant managerial role, with Erik ten Hag leaving the club after months of pressure building on his shoulders.
The Dutchman had guided United to their worst ever start to a Premier League season, and with three draws from winning positions in the Europa League from three games, results seemingly were not picking up.
Amorim, meanwhile, has picked up plaudits in recent years for his exceptional work in the Portuguese capital, ended Sporting Club's 19-year wait for a league title in 2020-21, before winning the top-flight again last year.
Here, Mail Sport's JOE BERNSTEIN looks at five occasions where Amorim and United's paths have crossed...
Ruben Amorim is in talks with Manchester United over their now vacant managerial position
]]]]>]]>1. HOME AND AWAY CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TUSSLESAmorim was a member of the Benfica team that faced United in the Champions League group stages in 2011-12 and went on to progress to the knockout stages at Sir Alex Ferguson's expense.
He started on the right of a midfield three for the tie in Lisbon which finished 1-1 after Ryan Giggs cancelled out a goal by Oscar Cardozo.
Amorim then appeared as a late substitute in a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford in November when Benfica were aided by an own goal from Phil Jones.
Benfica topped the group and went on to reach the quarter-final when they were eliminated by eventual winners, Chelsea. Among Amorim's team-mates in Portugal was future United midfielder, Nemanja Matic.
Incidentally, United finished third in the group - in Sir Alex Ferguson's penultimate Champions League campaign - and dropped into the Europa League.
Amorim also returned a year later with Braga in Group H, in a side that also had Manchester City's future sporting director Hugo Viana in central midfield, losing 3-2 in Manchester, with Jonny Evans on the scoresheet with the winner for the hosts.
The Portuguese international was drawn against Manchester United in the 2011-12 Champions League campaign with Benfica
2. FERGIE NO 2 GIVES WORLD CUP CHANCETwo figures well-known to United fans were key to the beginning of Amorim's international career for Portugal at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Amorim wasn't named in the original squad but received a late call-up when United winger Nani was ruled out with a damaged collar bone suffered in training.
The Portuguese boss Carlos Queiroz - who famously served as Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant at Old Trafford - chose Amorim, then 25 and doing well with Benfica, to join the party, and he played in the 0-0 group game against Ivory Coast.
It proved the first of 14 international caps for Amorim, many of them alongside Cristiano Ronaldo. He also played in a World Cup group game against Ghana four years later in Brazil but was not in the squad which won Euro 2016.
Former Man United star Nani (left) was ruled out of the 2010 World Cup - with ex-United assistant boss Carlos Queiroz (right) calling up Amorim to replace him
3. ERIKSEN WILL REMEMBERAmorim had the last laugh over one of the players he will manage at Old Trafford, Christian Eriksen, when they faced each other in the 2014 Europa League knockout stages.
Despite scoring a free-kick in the last-16 first leg at White Hart Lane, Eriksen's Spurs were beaten 3-1 by Benfica with Amorim setting up one of the visitor's goals with a slide-rule pass.
The second leg ended 2-2 at The Stadium of Light and Benfica progressed all the way to that year's final - where they were beaten on penalties after a goalless draw by Sevilla, managed by a certain Unai Emery
Amorim crossed paths with then-Tottenham star Cristian Eriksen in a Europa League tie in 2014
4. UGARTE REUNIONGiven that Manuel Ugarte had two successful years under Amorim at Sporting, one wonders if the PS42million purchase of the Uruguayan from PSG in the summer was made with a change of manager already in mind. It would explain why Erik ten Hag has been so reluctant to start with Ugarte.
There is no doubt working for Amorim catapulted the combative midfielder into a higher echelon. He won the Portuguese League Cup and Super Cup with Sporting in 2022 and his performances the following season won him a PS50million move to Paris St Germain.
Though things didn't work out for Ugarte in France, the prospect of working again for Amorim at Old Trafford will be exciting for the 23-year-old. Ugarte has a contract at United until 2029 - plenty of time for their partnership to work again.
Amorim is a confirmed fan. After a 3-1 win at fierce rivals Benfica in 2021, the Sporting coach took time to praise the "personality and quality he (Ugarte) showed with the ball."
Manuel Ugarte (green and white) played 85 games under Amorim - more than any other boss
It was one of only three occasions that City failed to score at home in the 2021/22 season from their 28 games at The Etihad. Not that Pep Guardiola was overly-disturbed, City had already won the reverse Champions League fixture in Lisbon 5-0 when Bernardo Silva scored twice.