Romagnoli puts Sporting on road to 2-0 win

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LISBON (Reuters) - Midfielder Leandro Romagnoli and striker Derlei scored second half goals to give Sporting a 2-0 home win over Basel in a lacklustre Champions League Group C match on Wednesday.

Sporting broke the deadlock when Argentine playmaker Romagnoli took advantage of a mistake in the Swiss side's defence to open the scoring after 55 minutes.

Veteran striker Derlei, who hit the post after 75 minutes, made sure of victory with the second goal four minutes from the end from a fine, long pass by Romagnoli.

After a disappointing first half, Sporting improved with Brazilian midfielder Fabio Rochemback's substitution by Montenegrin forward Simon Vukcevik.

Sporting, who lost their opening match at Barcelona, are equal on three points with Shakhtar Donetsk. Barcelona, who won 2-1 in Ukraine, lead with six points and Basel have none.

Basel, who defended in numbers and relied on counter-attacks, had their best chance when David Abraham missed the target in front of Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patricio after 23 minutes.

Sporting coach Paulo Bento told reporters: "Sporting started the match well, we created four opportunities to score in the first half against a team that was well organised in defence.

"The second half was well played, we took advantage of being ahead in the score. I think this was a fair victory, although we could have won with a bigger difference."

(Reporting by Carlos Pontes, editing by Rex Gowar)