Sporting nears Champions League exit in Dortmund loss, extending a slump since Amorim left

Three months since coach Ruben Amorim left Sporting Lisbon to take charge of Manchester United, nothing's the same for him or his old team.

Sporting's 3-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund at home in the first leg of the Champions League playoffs Tuesday left Amorim's old club on the verge of elimination.

The Portuguese champion hasn't won any of its five Champions League games since Amorim left for Manchester — and with United 13th in the Premier League, his tenure there isn't exactly a success either.

“We weren’t very proactive and we lost our collective balance,” Sporting coach Rui Borges said.

“We let the game become the way Borussia like it, with space to run into in the final third. We can’t be like that against these teams. In the Champions League, we need to be at 200% — and we’re not even at 100%.”

Viktor Gyokeres had been an unstoppable force when Sporting demolished Manchester City 4-1 in November in Amorim's last European game in charge. On Tuesday against Dortmund, Gyokeres was on the bench — a regular event in recent weeks amid apparent fitness concerns.

When the Sweden striker entered the game in 59th, Dortmund scored a minute later, and Sporting was unable to provide reliable service to Gyokeres for the rest of the game.

Sporting had the better chances in a quiet first half but the game changed when Dortmund worked out that crosses were the way to unlock the Portuguese team's defense.

One high ball from the right found Serhou Guirassy for his 10th Champions League goal of the season, and soon after Guirassy crossed for Pascal Gross to score his first Dortmund goal with a clumsy finish off his knee. Sporting pushed up in search of a goal and was punished when Karim Adeyemi made it three for Dortmund on the counter.

While a change of coach has thrown Sporting out of its rhythm, it may have got Dortmund back on track.

Last season's Champions League runner-up was playing its first European game since Niko Kovac replaced the fired Nuri Sahin. It was a triumphant return to the Champions League for the former Bayern Munich and Monaco coach — though he has other problems, with Dortmund 11th in the German league.

Speaking to broadcaster Prime Video, Kovac cautioned that “it's just the first half” of the two-leg playoff but praised his team's attitude. “We showed mentality, physicality, aggression,” he said.

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Dortmund's Nico Schlotterbeck, left, challenges for the ball with Sporting's Francisco Trincao during the Champions League playoff first leg soccer match between Sporting CP and Borussia Dortmund at the Alvalade stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Dortmund's head coach Nico Kovac reacts during the Champions League playoff first leg soccer match between Sporting CP and Borussia Dortmund at the Alvalade stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Dortmund's Serhou Guirassy celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Champions League playoff first leg soccer match between Sporting CP and Borussia Dortmund at the Alvalade stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Dortmund's Karim Adeyemi during the Champions League playoff first leg soccer match between Sporting CP and Borussia Dortmund at the Alvalade stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Dortmund's Marcel Sabitzer, right, challenges for the ball with Sporting's Joao Simoes during the Champions League playoff first leg soccer match between Sporting CP and Borussia Dortmund at the Alvalade stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York prison guard who failed to intervene as he watched an inmate being beaten to death should be convicted of manslaughter, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday in the final trial of correctional officers whose pummeling, recorded by body-cameras, provoked outrage.

“For seven minutes — seven gut-churning, nauseating, disgusting minutes — he stood in that room close enough to touch him and he did nothing,” special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick told jurors during closing arguments. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.

Former corrections officer Michael Fisher, 55, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by guards upon his arrival at Marcy Correctional Facility on the night of Dec. 9, 2024, his agony recorded silently on the guards' body cameras.

Fisher’s attorney, Scott Iseman, said his client entered the infirmary after the beating began and could not have known the extent of his injuries.

Fisher was among 10 guards indicted in February. Three more agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges in return for cooperating with prosecutors. Of the 10 officers indicted in February, six pleaded guilty to manslaughter or lesser charges. Four rejected plea deals. One was convicted of murder, and two were acquitted in the first trial last fall.

Fisher, standing alone, is the last of the guards to face a jury.

The trial closes a chapter in a high-profile case led to reforms in New York's prisons. But advocates say the prisons remain plagued by understaffing and other problems, especially since a wildcat strike by guards last year.

Officials took action amid outrage over the images of the guards beating the 43-year-old Black man in the prison's infirmary. Officers could be seen striking Brooks in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him.

Video shown to the jury during closing arguments Thursday indicates Fisher stood by the doorway and didn't intervene.

“Did Michael Fisher recklessly cause the death of Robert Brooks? Of course he did. Not by himself. He had plenty of other helpers,” said Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney.

Iseman asked jurors looking at the footage to consider what Fisher could have known at the time “without the benefit of 2020 hindsight.”

“Michael Fisher did not have a rewind button. He did not have the ability to enhance. He did not have the ability to pause. He did not have the ability to get a different perspective of what was happening in the room,” Iseman said.

Even before Brooks' death, critics claimed the prison system was beset by problems that included brutality, overworked staff and inconsistent services. By the time criminal indictments were unsealed in February, the system was reeling from an illegal three-week wildcat strike by corrections officers who were upset over working conditions. Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed National Guard troops to maintain operations. More than 2,000 guards were fired.

Prison deaths during the strike included Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is across the road from the Marcy prison. 10 other guards were indicted in Nantwi's death in April, including two charged with murder.

There are still about 3,000 National Guard members serving the state prison system, according to state officials.

“The absence of staff in critical positions is affecting literally every aspect of prison operations. And I think the experience for incarcerated people is neglect,” Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, said on the eve of Fisher's trial.

Hochul last month announced a broad reform agreement with lawmakers that includes a requirement that cameras be installed in all facilities and that video recordings related to deaths behind bars be promptly released to state investigators.

The state also lowered the hiring age for correction officers from 21 to 18 years of age.

FILE - This image provided by the New York State Attorney General office shows body camera footage of correction officers beating a handcuffed man, Robert Brooks, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, N.Y., Dec. 9, 2024. (New York State Attorney General office via AP, File)