LONDON: Riddled with anxiety about Manchester City’s shocking decline, Pep Guardiola will endure another sleepless night as he tries to pose more problems for Ruben Amorim in the Manchester United manager’s first taste of the Premier League’s most explosive rivalry.
For the first time in years, City go into the Manchester derby mired in even more turmoil than United after a dismal run of one win in 10 games in all competitions.
Wednesday’s 2-0 Champions League defeat at Juventus was City’s seventh loss in that period, an astonishing collapse for a club that has won six of the last seven Premier League titles, including their current streak of four in a row.
United are hardly in peak form themselves, having won just three of Amorim’s six games in charge since he replaced the sacked Erik ten Hag.
But Amorim has already inflicted one painful blow to Guardiola this season when his Sporting side crushed City 4-1 in the Champions League in Lisbon on November 5.
City squandered an early lead on that occasion, blown away by Viktor Gyokeres’ hat-trick as Amorim ruthlessly exposed the gaping holes in Guardiola’s ramshackle defense.
That chastening loss came just days before Amorim officially took charge at Old Trafford and Guardiola would love to exact avenge at the Etihad Stadium this weekend.
Whether Guardiola’s injury-plagued team, whose confidence appears to be in tatters, are in any shape to deliver a sixth win in their last seven league meetings with United is another matter.
The strain of the worst run of his glittering managerial career is taking a toll on Guardiola as well.
In an interview before the Juventus game, Guardiola said his state of mind was “ugly,” his sleep was “worse” and he was eating lighter as his digestion has suffered during City’s collapse.
On Friday, Guardiola, who recently signed a new two-year contract, insisted he was “fine” despite the stress.
“In our jobs we always want to do our best. When that doesn’t happen you are more uncomfortable than when the situation is going well,” said Guardiola, who could have just three fit defenders available on Sunday.
“In good moments I am happier but when I get to the next game I am still concerned about what I have to do.
“There is no human being that makes an activity and it doesn’t matter how they do.”
There is no question another loss to Amorim would be a huge blow for Guardiola, whose fourth-placed side are eight points behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.
Yet Amorim has plenty of issues of his own to resolve after a rocky first month in Manchester featuring only one league victory in four matches.
United are languishing in 13th place after successive league losses to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest underlined the extent of the rebuilding job faced by Amorim.
They struggled to find any fluency in a nervy 2-1 victory at minnows Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League on Thursday.
Given United’s mediocrity before and since his arrival, Amorim is in no position to cast aspersions about City’s woes.
“I never think about these things. We will face a great opponent and I’m more focused on our problems, so we have a lot of issues here,” he said.
“I’m more focused on what we should do on Sunday to win the game, so I’m really focused on my team.”
And the 39-year-old believes City are capable of hitting back if United allow them to rediscover their rhythm amid the sound and fury of the derby.
“The great teams can respond in any moment. I think they are in a better place than us in the type of understanding the game,” he said.
“The way they play, the confidence they have. Even in these kind of moments.”
Manchester derby brings sleepless nights for Guardiola and problems for Amorim
https://arab.news/bnree
Manchester derby brings sleepless nights for Guardiola and problems for Amorim
How Saudi football scored in the runup to 2026 FIFA World Cup
- Saudi Pro League asserted global dominance with star-studded lineups and record-breaking performances from Asia’s elite top-tier clubs
- Domestic leagues reached new heights, yet the national team faces mounting pressure ahead of a high-stakes global tournament
DUBAI: FIFA President Gianni Infantino seemed full of optimism on Dec. 21 when he said Saudi Arabia had become a major hub on the global football stage and that the Saudi Pro League was on track to become one of the top three in the world.
With players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema and a nation crazy about the great game, this endorsement perhaps comes as little surprise.
Infantino also predicted a successful World Cup in 2034 when the tournament will be hosted by Saudi Arabia. With infrastructure being built and upgraded, the Expo 2030 venue under construction, and reforms underway, the World Cup seems destined to be a success.
The FIFA boss also praised the progress made not only at the senior national team level and across youth categories, but also in the women’s game, thanks to the backing of football authorities in recent years.
While this paints a positive picture of the game in the Kingdom, it follows the national team’s 1-0 loss to Jordan in the semi-finals of the 2025 Arab Cup. Many supporters will need far more convincing of the team’s prospects going into the New Year.
Although the return of Herve Renard as coach of the Green Falcons following Roberto Mancini’s disappointing stint has resulted in a second consecutive World Cup qualification (and seventh overall), failure to win the Arab Cup in Qatar and some less than inspiring performances means the jury is still out on the Frenchman.
At the 2026 World Cup, Saudi Arabia will face Uruguay, European champions Spain, and Cape Verde in their three Group H matches, taking place in Miami, Atlanta, and Houston respectively.
Saudi fans sharing Infantino’s positive outlook will hope Renard’s men can emulate the historic win over Argentina on that memorable night at Lusail Stadium in 2022. But that is far easier said than done, and many remain unconvinced.
For a start, just as Poland and Mexico were alerted to Saudi Arabia’s potential following that humbling of Lionel Messi and co in Qatar, their opponents in the US will likewise be on their guard this time around.
Worryingly for Saudi fans, the team has rarely, if at all, hit the same highs since Saleh Al-Shehri’s equalizer and Salem Al-Dawsari’s stunning strike brought about arguably the most famous win in the Green Falcons’ history.
The 2023 AFC Asian Cup, played in early 2024 and only months after Mancini’s arrival, saw Saudi Arabia eliminated by South Korea on penalties in the round of 16.
World Cup qualification was eventually secured but not before the team needed to negotiate a fourth round group that included Iraq and Indonesia in October.
The semi-final exit at the Arab Cups prompted rumors — immediately denied by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation — that Renard’s job was under threat. Still, it was hardly a ringing endorsement of the way things had turned out on his second stint as national team coach.
Outspoken Saudi-based football pundit Battal Algoos has been scathing in his criticism of Renard and his employers, and in particular of the excuses for the Arab Cup disappointment.
“It seems to be a contagion that has affected the Saudi camp,” he said on the football show “Filmarma” on Al Arabiya.
“Everyone justifies (their position) through others’ failures. We brought you to win a championship, not to say ‘those before me didn’t win championships, I’m no worse than them’.
“It seems to be contagious, from (SAFF President) Yasser Al-Misehal to Renard. Or their thinking is one and the same.”
Paul Williams, Australian journalist and founder and presenter of “The Asian Game” podcast, was at Lusail Stadium the day Saudi Arabia beat the eventual world champions, but believes urgent fixes are needed by Renard this time round.
“There are a multitude of areas that Saudi Arabia need to improve,” he told Arab News. “The obvious is in the final third, where there are still issues finding a reliable avenue to goal, an issue that blighted most of their qualification campaign.
“But they also haven’t yet found a capable replacement in midfield for Salman Al-Faraj, and the entire narrative around Saudi football has changed since before 2022.
“There has always been pressure and expectation from the fans, but that is even more intense now and it feels like that sits heavily on the squad, who are yet to prove they are capable of delivering under that burden of expectation.”
The team’s main concern remains, as it was four years ago in Qatar, its lack of fire power up front and an over-reliance on Al-Dawsari for goals and inspiration. In that sense, at least the 34-year-old talisman can still be relied on.
The Al-Hilal and Saudi Arabia captain provided one of the highlights of 2025 when he was named AFC Player of the Year at the awards ceremony in Riyadh. Al-Dawsari is the only Saudi to have won the Asian award twice.
On an individual level, he enjoyed a stellar 2024-25 season with his club, although Al-Hilal lost out on the Saudi Pro League title to a Benzema-inspired Al-Ittihad.
Al-Dawsari and Al-Hilal came back strongly in the summer to reach the quarter-finals of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the US, along the way drawing 1-1 with Real Madrid in the group stage and brilliantly beating Manchester City 4-3 in the round of 16.
Domestically, however, it is their local rivals that have stolen all the headlines, with their lead at the top of the SPL delighting millions of fans around the world and perhaps in the process reinforcing Infantino’s estimation of the league.
Al-Nassr, now managed by former Al-Hilal boss Jorge Jesus and inspired by the relentlessly enduring Ronaldo, look near invincible at the top of the table, having won all nine matches during this campaign.
The coronation that their fans and the Portuguese legend’s army of global followers had envisioned since he landed in Riyadh three years ago is looking increasingly likely to happen in May. Their end of year report card is glowing 9 out of 10.
Al-Hilal, the self-styled Real Madrid of Asia, can never be counted out however, and the title race in 2026 could be one of the most exciting and close in recent years.
Reigning champions Al-Ittihad, on the other hand, have put up a dismal defense of their title resulting in the sacking of Laurent Blanc, who was succeeded by Sergio Conceicao. Their card will read “must do better.”
Al-Ahli provided further evidence of the SPL’s continental dominance by claiming the 2025 AFC Champions League Elite after beating Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale 2-0 in Jeddah last May.
Elsewhere, Aramco-owned Al-Qadsiah and newly promoted NEOM provide intriguing plot lines as they sit in fifth and eighth respectively, while Al-Taawoun continue to punch above their weight in third.
One of the standout personalities of the season has been US investor Ben Harburg who — through Harburg Group — acquired 100 percent of Al-Kholood in July, making it the first Saudi club wholly owned by a foreign entity. The purchase opens up new possibilities for the SPL.
There is little debate now that the SPL is the most powerful and entertaining in Asia and could in future years, if Infantino is right, become one of the world’s best. The national team’s standing however, until the 2026 World Cup at least, remains up in the air.
