MANCHESTER United boss Ruben Armorim is ready to give Pep Guardiola more lessons in how to be more humble.
Amorim's Sporting Lisbon humiliated Guardiola's Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League before the Portuguese took charge at Old Trafford last month.
And as the new United manager prepares for his first Manchester derby, a former confidante believes he will put his City counterpart down a few points in the short and long term.
Goncalo Ferreira was head of communications at Braga when Amorim took his first job as a top manager in 2019.
Ferreira believes Amorim will revive United without spending the kind of money they have wasted in recent years, and without the resources Guardiola has enjoyed at the Etihad and in his previous jobs at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Ferreira said: “I think Ruben Guardiola will give some lessons in humility.
“Ruben is not a 'rich' coach in terms of mentality. He respects everyone.
“He doesn't think he's the best coach in the world. He doesn't need that focus. He just needs the space and time to work, and hopefully the results will come.
“He will prove that you can win with perhaps cheaper players than United are used to.
“Let's form a team. United have had great teams in the past.
“United started thinking that to build success they had to do what City did: burn money.
“It's not about burning money.”
Ferreira is now boss of agency Global Take Over, but before taking the job at Braga he was a journalist and came into contact with Guardiola.
He recalled: “I interviewed Guardiola and I know what I felt.
“I thought he was talking to me, but I thought of other things he had to do next. Not modest.
“You won at Barcelona. People can say it's easy when you have Messi. You won at City, you had Sergio Aguero and David Silva.
“Let's win at Roma, they have some money but they don't win much. For example, let's win at Dortmund, not Bayern. It's difficult.”
Ferreira believes Guardiola and City were guilty of underestimating Amorim and Sporting when they traveled to Lisbon early last month.
The City boss had to lead an injury-hit squad, with senior players such as Kevin de Bruyne and Kyle Walker feeling their way back to equal sharpness.
Guardiola also handed centre-back Jahmai Simpson-Pusey his first start the day after his 19th birthday.
And while the young defender acquitted himself well, Ferreira felt Guardiola's overall team selection was flawed.
Ferreira said: “Even with the players he chose and what he had, he didn't take Sporting too seriously.
“No one in Portugal ever did that because everyone knew that Sporting had the best coach and that if they acted in their normal way they would win because they had the best players.
“But although Sporting is a good team, it is not Real Madrid or Barcelona or Bayern or any of the big teams of the world. Yet they defeated City 4-1.
“Guardiola has learned a lesson. Because he has won everything and is rich, he lacks a little humility.”
Amorim has had an up and down start at United, while City are enduring the worst period of Guardiola's reign and his entire managerial career – including that defeat in Lisbon
If Guardiola isn't careful, the new man at Old Trafford could kick him when he's down again.
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