ο»ΏWhen Ruben Amorim arrived at Old Trafford, Manchester United fans greeted him with a toasty welcome and a big sign in Portuguese.
On Thursday night, fans in the Stretford end put up a red, white, and black sign that said “Welcome home Ruben.”
Amorim’s first game as manager was at home against Norwegian winners Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League. His team won 3-2. On Sunday, he had his first Premier League game, which was at Ipswich and ended in a 1-1 draw.
It only took the United fans a few minutes to start chanting his name at Portman Road, and they made sure the Sporting Lisbon signing felt right at home.
Within 50 seconds, they were repaid when Alejandro Garnacho poked the ball into an empty net after Rasmus Hojlund had forced Nikita Khaikin to make a terrible mistake.
When Amorim first talked about the Red Devils, he said that he felt “at home” and that his goal is to bring back “titles” to M16.
The hosts were shocked when Hakon Evjen and Philip Zinckernagel scored two goals in four minutes to put Bodo/Glimt ahead in the first half. They were determined to mess up the party.
But Rasmus Hojlund tied the game right before halftime and then scored again five minutes after the break to give United a 3-2 lead.
After joining the club for Β£72 million, that was his third hat trick. It was enough to give Amorim his first win and move United up in the Europa League results.
After Casemiro got a yellow card, Bodo/Glimt got a late free kick from close range, but Andre Onana made a great save to keep Patrick Berg from scoring a dream equalizer.