What Sporting CP supporters did for Ruben Amorim ahead of final game speaks volumes

Ruben Amorim came out to a silent Estadio Jose Alvalade and was immediately engulfed by applause from Sporting Clube de Portugal fans.

It is an upsetting day for many fans in Lisbon on Tuesday night, as Amorim could potentially be in charge of his final game for the Lions. Sporting are in Taça da Liga quarter-final action at home to CD Nacional before a match with Manchester City in the Champions League next week.

He came out to walk towards the dugout and grabbed a water bottle from the ice bucket before shaking Ousmane Diomande's hand and giving Jeremiah St Juste a hug. Thousands in attendance stood up to clap him as normal.

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It was almost like it was business as usual, as no banners were displayed around the stadium and no chants were heard.

Prior to kick-off, Nacional manager Tiago Margarido was spotted giving Amorim a hug and was deep in conversation. Shortly after, fans raised their scarves to sing Sporting's anthem, but once the ball started rolling, there was a deafening silence.

Granted, this is only a cup game, which would explain the thousands of empty seats. The club has other things to worry about ahead of a tricky run of fixtures in the Liga Portugal and the Champions League to Manchester City and Arsenal respectively.

MEN Sport has reported that Manchester United have made their intentions clear over paying the Portuguese coach's £8.3million release clause to bring him to the club. Sporting are believed to have plans to promote B team and former right-back Joao Pereira as their manager.