Sporting humiliated in Leiria

Uniao de Leiria 4-1 Sporting

Sporting missed out on a golden opportunity to move into second place and an automatic Champions League qualification position as they fell to an embarrassing 4-1 defeat at rock-bottom club Leiria.

Two early goals from Paulo Cesar proved too much of a deficit to pull back, and further goals from N’Gal and Cadu compounded the misery for Paulo Bento’s side, with Liedson’s strike nothing more than a consolation goal.

As has happened repeatedly in recent weeks, the Lions started the match poorly, and Leiria took full advantage to build a comfortable two-goal lead before the twenty minute mark.

On 14 minutes Paulo Cesar finished off a rapid attack in style, sliding to beat Polga to the ball and sweep a fine first-time shot past Rui Patricio. The Brazilian striker grabbed his second shortly afterwards when he latched onto a perfectly weighted throughball from Harison and again provided a classy finish to beat the Sporting goalkeeper.

Late in the half Sporting at last came out of their shell, and Vukcevic was close to pulling a goal back before the break when he rounded Leiria goalkeeper Fernando but could not find the net from a tight angle.

Woodwork denies Sporting

Paulo Bento took drastic action at the break, brining on forward Derlei in place of left-back Grimi, with Miguel Veloso moving into the back four. The Lions improved significantly and were unlucky not to get themselves back into the game as first Veloso then Liedson sent efforts crashing against the post.

In the 74th minute the hosts were reduced to ten men when Sougou was somewhat harshly shown a straight red card for a heavy challenge on Pereirinha. With time running out Yannick Djalo appeared to have given Sporting hope as he headed into the net, but the effort was ruled out for offside.

The match was then put beyond Sporting as shoddy defending allowed the ball to be worked to N’Gal, who produced a spectacular finish in back-heeling past Patricio into the net.

Almost immediately Liedson replied for Sporting, but any chance of producing a miraculous comeback for the second match running was extinguished when Derlei was sent off for violently contesting a refereeing decision. More poor defending allowed Cadu to score a fourth for Leiria in stoppage time.

Despite the win – their second in a row – Leiria are practically condemned to relegation, and Vitor Oliveira must be wishing his team had found this form earlier in the season. As for Sporting, the Lisbon outfit were brought crashing back down to earth after their midweek Portuguese Cup heroics against Benfica, and are again dependent on third parties in their quest for a second-placed finish.

Leiria:
Fernando, Eder, Bruno Miguel, Eder Gaúcho, Patrick, Tiago, Cadu, Harison (Lukasiewicz, 77), N’Gal, Paulo Cesar (Alhandra, 90), Sougou
Yellow Cards: Bruno Miguel, Eder Gaucho
Red Card: Sougou (74)

Sporting:
Rui Patricio, Abel (Pereirinha, 58), Tonel, Polga, Grimi (Derlei, 45), Miguel Veloso, Joao Moutinho, Izmailov (Romagnoli, 76), Vukcevic, Yannick Djalo, Liedson
Red Card: Derlei, 88

Goals:
[1-0] Paulo Cesar, 14
[2-0] Paulo Cesar, 18
[3-0] N’Gal, 83
[3-1] Liedson, 85
[4-1] Cadu, 91