Rúben Amorim used reporter trick Jose Mourinho taught him, Manchester United fans are loving it

Manchester United fans love how Rúben Amorim recently handled an awkward press conference question, which came from something Jose Mourinho taught.

Manchester United have named Ruben Amorim as their new Head Coach, following the departure of Erik ten Hag from Old Trafford.

Despite a contract extension in the summer, ten Hag’s challenging season saw United fall to 14th in the Premier League and 21st in the Europa League, leading to his exit, confirmed on Monday morning. United acted promptly to bring in Amorim as his successor.

Read More: Manchester United will “probably” sign £50m star under Rúben Amorim, says club legend

Amorim is set to start officially on 11 November, with his debut match as Head Coach scheduled for 24 November, an away fixture against Ipswich Town.

However, prior to the pending move, he has two fixtures left with sporting, which came in the form of a Champions League tie against Manchester City and a league fixture against his former club, FC Braga.

Amorim’s press conference moment

Ahead of the Man City game, plenty of English reporters flew to Lisbon to attend his pre-match press conference, hoping to catch quotes about his incoming United move.

However, prior to the first question, the Sporting press officer informed all those at the briefing that all answers from Amorim would be conducted in Portuguese as it was one of his final press conferences in the country.

As standard, all non-Portuguese journalists were provided with a live translation of his answers, but this did not stop Sky Sports journalist Gary Cotterill from demanding that Amorim answer one of his questions in English.

This led to a very awkward exchange between the pair, which can be watched below.

A tip to Jose Mourinho

How Amorim dealt with Cotterill’s bullish requests was brilliant, and it gives United fans a glimpse into how they can expect Amorim to behave with the press once he arrives in England.

While some may put it down to natural charisma, The Athletic have revealed that Amorim’s ability to handle the press with ease is in part due to Jose Mourinho’s coaching course Amorim attended in 2017 at the University of Lisbon.

It is explained that, as the course was designed to help coaches understand gaps in the knowledge Jose Mourinho felt he had when he started as a manager, some sections were specifically designed to teach the next generation how to handle talking to the media.

Amorim’s very commanding response to Cotterill’s request does echo Mourinho, a man who the 39-year-old has previously described as a “reference” for him.

After spending a week at Carrington in 2017 under Mourinho, Amorim has absorbed a lot of knowledge from the former United boss and would be wise to use his skills in England once he arrives later this month.

Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is released every Wednesday at 6 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.