Weekend Review: Verstappen is champion again as Amorim era starts

 Max Verstappen won his fourth Formula 1 title but it was a weekend to forget for the fans of the two Manchester clubs in England. 

It’s time once again to review some of the biggest talking points from last weekend in sports, and what a weekend it was. 

Club football returned after the international break took over the previous weekend and oh boy, there were some shockers. 

As usual, the action started on Friday, with Harry Kane grabbing the headlines after scoring a hat-trick in Bayern Munich’s 3-0 win over Augsburg. 

The hat-trick took Kane’s tally to 14 in the league this season and made him the fastest player to reach a half-century of goals in Bundesliga history. 

More games followed on Saturday and Sunday in all of Europe’s top leagues, including LaLiga, where Barcelona dropped points again after playing a 2-2 draw against Celta Vigo. 

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, the lights were on for the Formula 1 action in the early hours of Sunday morning depending on where you were watching from. 

Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the biggest talking points from last weekend. 

Max Verstappen is a four-time world champion 

The Formula 1 season may not be officially over but there is no doubt who the champion is after Max Verstappen made history once again. 

The Dutchman won his fourth world title in a row despite finishing fifth in the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Sunday. 

Going into the race, Verstappen knew all he had to do was finish ahead of his nearest challenger, Lando Norris. 

Although Verstappen had a poor qualifying, his job was made easier as Norris failed to capitalise. 

This meant both drivers started from the third row of the grid, with George Rusell leading the row ahead of Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc. 

Russell took advantage of his pole position, setting the pace right from the start. Leclerc also tried to challenge the Mercedes driver but ran into tyre trouble as he finished fourth. 

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton showed he still got it ahead of his move to Ferrari as he finished second all the way from tenth. 

However, the biggest headline was Verstappen, who finished fifth ahead of Norris to win his fourth world title in a row, 

Verstappen knew Red Bull’s car was not the fastest on the track but did enough to keep Norris at bay. 

The fourth title puts him among F1 greats like Sebastian Vettel, Alan Prost, Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, and Lewis Hamilton, who all have four or more F1 titles. 

 Speaking after the race, Verstappen said: “It’s been a long season and of course, we started off amazing, it was almost like cruising, but then we had a tough run.

“But as a team, we kept it together, we kept working on improvements and we pulled off the win. Incredibly proud of everyone, what they have done for me... So at the moment I’m just feeling very relieved, in a way, but also proud.

Amorim off to a slow start 

If Ruben Amorim thought the job at Manchester United would be easy, then he would need to have a rethink. 

The Portuguese tactician took charge of his first game as Manchester United’s boss on Sunday evening. 

Amorim, who came in from Sporting Lisbon to replace Ten Hag, watched on as his side played out a 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town. 

The ex-Sporting Lisbon actually got off to a bright start as Marcus Rashford put United ahead after just two minutes. 

But that was as good as it got for United as they were second-best for the majority of the match. As for Ipswich, they got their deserved equaliser through Omari Hutchinson’s remarkable strike two minutes from the break. 

There were no goals in the second half, but the performance would leave Amorim with more questions rather than answers. 

With United back in Europa League action this week, there is no time for Amorim to implement his ideas. 

Pep Guardiola in unfamiliar territory 

Guardiola may be one of the best coaches of all time, but it’s not looking good for him at the moment after losing five games on the spin for the first time. 

The former Barcelona man watched in agony as Tottenham Hotspur put four past his Manchester City side at the Etihad Stadium. 

A brace from James Maddison set things in motion for Spurs before Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson sealed City’s misery. 

The defeat was City’s second consecutive loss in the Premier League season, having lost to Brighton just before the international break. 

It also marked the first time Guardiola lost five games in his managerial career, but more importantly, his side are now eight points behind Liverpool ahead of their highly anticipated showdown this Sunday.