Ruben Amorim was thrilled to have the perfect farewell but admitted his side were "hasty" and were fortunate .
Sporting had gone a goal behind early on against City, who dominated the early exchanges and looked as if they were going to deliver a firm reality check to the next manager.
The Portuguese side had levelled by half-time courtesy of the prolific Viktor Gyokeres, who produced a stunning finish as he begun his memorable night. Sporting began the second-half with a bang - scoring twice in a matter of minutes. Gyokeres then completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot.
It was the perfect ending for Amorim, who waved farewell to the stadium he's called home for years. He lapped up the applause as he said goodbye to the fans - but confessed the game could've gone another way on a different day.
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He said: "The opponent missed a penalty, we were hasty at the beginning. There are days when things have to happen in a certain way and that's what happened. I couldn't ask for another farewell."
Gyokeres said on his outgoing coach: "We will miss him a lot. We've done amazing things together. We will miss him and the other guys in the staff who will leave. We have to look forward and attack the next challenge ahead of us."
Bernardo Silva said on City's damaging loss - their third in the space of a week: "It was a bit too easy for them to be 1-1 with our goalkeeper after our press. That is football. Sometimes it is difficult to find reasons for what it happening, I don't remember in my three years losing three games in a row."
Amorim knew before the game that the result was going to be magnified. He joked that a win for Sporting would leave United fans thinking they'd won the jackpot, but had attempted to keep a lid on expectations.
He joked: “My focus is on winning the match for Sporting. The conclusions are not important for me because they could be erroneous: if we win tomorrow they will think the new has arrived. That will be very difficult. It could increase expectations, I don’t know what is better when I start my new adventure.”
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