Ruben Amorim has dismissed any comparisons about him and Pep Guardiola going into Sunday’s Manchester derby and insists it is a joke to do so because he is under way more pressure than the Spaniard heading into today’s showdown.
Softfootball reports that City will host the Red Devils at the Etihad for the first Manchester derby of the 2025-26 Premier League campaign, following the September break.
Despite United going into this fixture in a higher position in the Premier League table than City for the first time in five years, Amorim poke fun at the idea of Guardiola facing similar pressure, considering the City manager’s impressive record of six league titles and a Champions League victory in the last nine years.
Amorim has been in charge at Old Trafford since last November and he closes in on 12 months in charge, there are question marks about whether the Portuguese coach will be the long-term solution.
According to Fabrizio Romano via his X handle, United manage, Amorim downplayed comparisons with Pep Guardiola ahead of Manchester derby today at the Etihad insisting the Manchester City boss operates on a different level. The post reads:
Rúben Amorim: You can’t compare me with Guardiola. That guy is winning all the time!.
He can relax if he’s not winning any more. I have to prove it every day.
Compare me with the situation of Guardiola, it’s just a joke.
United have only won one of their four games across all competitions this season and that came against relegation-threatened Burnley courtesy of a stoppage-time penalty. But City have lost two of their first three league games and will kick off at the Etihad at least six points behind title rivals Liverpool, who could stretch that gap to nine points by then.
Last season, Amorim managed to defeat Guardiola twice, once with Sporting in the Champions League and again with United in a thrilling derby. But the Red Devils still ended last season 15th in the table, their worst league finish in over half a century.
And Amorim, looking back on last year’s win at the Etihad, says it’s hard to point to a game last year that was a backfire. insisting that Manchester United had so many moments like that, but they need to focus on the future.
Both City and United enduring indifferent starts this season. Three points from a possible nine represents Pep Guardiola’s worst start to any league season, while 21 years have passed since Manchester City were last beaten in two of their opening three Premier League matches.
The previous time City lost three of their first four top-flight games was in 1995-96 under Alan Ball. That campaign ended in relegation and while that is almost certainly not going to happen to this time, defeat at the Emirates today could see them fall nine points behind the early pacesetters Liverpool.
