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Derlei fires Sporting into Champions League knockout stages

Sporting 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk

A solitary 73rd-minute goal from Derlei was enough for Sporting to beat Shakhtar Donetsk at Alvalade last night and book the Lisbon club’s place in the last sixteen of the competition for the first time in their history.

A tightly-fought match followed a similar pattern to the game in Ukraine a fortnight ago. Once again Sporting took full advantage of one of the few chances created throughout the 90 minutes to leave the crowd ecstatic at the final whistle.

Paulo Bento made three changes in relation to the team that beat Rio Ave on Saturday, with Abel, Miguel Veloso and Postiga coming in for Pedro Silva, Romagnoli and Derlei respectively.

After a bright opening spell from the hosts it was Shakhtar, needing a win to realistically keep alive their hopes of finishing second, who looked the more dangerous side for most of the first half.

Fernandinho impresses

Sporting were finding it difficult to cope with the mixture of a physical approach peppered with flashes of fine skill and neat passing, notably from the visitors’ Brazilian contingent, with Fernandinho especially impressive.

Nevertheless, neither goalkeeper was called into serious action in the first 45 minutes. A Veloso free-kick was easily gathered by Pyatov, while Patricio was well positioned to pouch a Brandao header.

In the second half both teams showed more urgency, and Shakhtar wasted an excellent chance in the 57th minute when a fine move saw the ball worked to Hubschman completely unmarked 12 metre from goal, but the player only succeeded in blasting his effort high and wide.

William then fired in a low shot from 20 metres but Patricio again showed safe hands to gather the ball without fuss.

Sporting came back strongly and were desperately close to breaking the deadlock on 65 minutes. Abel fired a low cross along the edge of the box and Liedson latched onto the ball and dispatched a powerful shot inches wide of the post with the goalkeeper rooted to the spot.

Super-sub

Paulo Bento decided to freshen up the attack, bringing on Derlei for Postiga, and it proved an inspired move with the veteran Brazilian scoring within minutes following a beautiful move.

Abel feigned to cross, only to play a clever pass to Izmailov inside the box. The Russian showed tremendous skill to completely bamboozle his marker and cross low towards Derlei, who controlled the ball with his first touch and hit a sweet shot into the corner of the net with his second to send the crowd into raptures.

The goal deflated the Ukrainians and Sporting never looked in danger of relinquishing their lead. Man-of-the-match Izmailov almost set up a second goal when he robbed Fernandinho in midfield, ran into the box and fed Moutinho, but the Sporting captain’s goal-bound shot was charged down by a retreating defender.

With qualification to the next phase of the competition guaranteed, the Lions next welcome Barcelona to Lisbon. With the Catalans surprisingly held at home by FC Basle, a victory for Sporting will elevate them to first place in Group C.

Sporting:
Rui Patricio, Abel, Grimi, Polga, Caneira, Miguel Veloso, Rochemback, Izmailov (Pereirinha, 90), Moutinho, Postiga (Derlei, 68), Liedson
Yellow Cards: Moutinho, Postiga

Shakhtar Donetsk:
Pyatov, Srna, Rat, Chygrynskiy, Kusher, Fernandinho, Jadson (Luiz Adriano, 74), Willian, Hubschman (Lewandowski, 80), Moreno, Brandao
Yellow Cards: Hubschman, Chygrynskiy, Jadson, Brandao, Kuscher

Goals:
[1-0] Derlei, 73