"Above all, what I like about him is the belief in the work he is doing, the communication with the inside and outside, the way he relates to the team and the players, and the humility in having no problems sometimes saying when he is wrong. In short, he is a natural leader. He is not the leader imposed by shouting and force, but more on the basis of consensus", the former defender, 69, who was crowned national champion as an athlete (1979/80 and 1981/82) and coach (1999/00, after an 18-year 'fast') by the 'lions', evaluated to the Lusa agency.

After breaking a 19-year 'drought' in 2020/21, Rúben Amorim, 39, succeeded Englishman Randolph Galloway in 2023/24 as the first coach to 'double' since 1951/52 for the Lisbon club, reflecting the historical dimension of the 20th title 'green and white'.

"Of course it will be engraved in gold letters in the history of Sporting, because it is not normal for the club to be champion twice in four years. For many years to come, everyone will remember Rúben Amorim, who has given incredible strength to Sporting as a great and winning club. We can now say with more firmness that they will fight for the title in 2024/25 and I believe so, since people give me such indications", he said.

Amorim achieved the sixth trophy in as many seasons on the benches, and the fifth at the service of Sporting, in which he also won two League Cups (2020/21 and 2021/22) and a Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup (2021), rebuilding a club made for instability.

"The club had many coaches until it settled with this one. From then on, he hired more than a coach and the idea that I have that he is almost everything there gained strength. Despite his value, which has already proven to be immense, we cannot forget that he was lucky to have a management that continued to believe even though he had not won anything in the previous season. When you don't win anything, the tendency is to fire the coach", warned Augusto Inácio.

The failed goal of the two-time championship - which has been escaping the 'lions' for 70 years -, in 2021/22, as well as the fourth place last season, combined with the consequent absence of the Champions League, increased the pressure on Rúben Amorim, who has been mitigating some of his impetuousness and diversified the automatisms of the usual '3-4-3' to reclaim the title.

"The fashion now is to line up with three central defenders. As it was realized that it is a balanced system - and this has a lot to do with the dynamics -, Rúben Amorim found this balance with these players and probably alerted other coaches that, depending on what they had, they could do almost the same. In fact, with the exception of Sporting, it was in '3-5-2' that I was most successful and took Marítimo and Vitória de Guimarães to Europe. It's a system I like, but if I don't have players for it, it won't work", he said.

With a new record of points (90) and victories (29) and the most effective attack (96 goals), the 'lions' dethroned Benfica, which closed 10 points from the top - in the biggest difference between first and second place since 2010/11 -, while Amorim became the youngest Portuguese coach to win the I League twice, surpassing the recently deceased Artur Jorge, who, at 40, had 'doubled' for FC Porto (1984/85 and 1985/86).

"Sporting bet on quality and did not spend on quantity, something it had done in previous years. The advantage of a coach who has been at the same club for a few years is that he knows what he has and what the personality of his athletes is. Rúben Amorim already knows Sporting like the palm of his hand. Then, it was just a matter of filling the positions where he thought something else was needed to make a leap in the quality of the game. Clearly, Viktor Gyökeres and Morten Hjulmand were keystones", he distinguished.

Amorim will 'return with interest' the 10 million euros (ME) invested by Sporting in his hiring from Sporting de Braga, in March 2020, and will try to lead the 'lions' to the first 'double' in 22 years on Sunday, when he will fight in the final of the Portuguese Cup with FC Porto for the only internal trophy missing in his short career as a coach.

"If the club continues on this line, it has many chances of being champion more times and of asserting itself at European level. The problem will arise when the coach leaves and then we will see the differences. Often, it is enough to remove a piece for a project to no longer exist. At the moment, Sporting's project is called Rúben Amorim", stressed Augusto Inácio.