Bento hails second-half effort

Coach pleased with Sporting response

By Ben Collins   Last updated: 1st October 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Bento hails second-half effort

Bento: Job well done

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Sporting Lisbon coach Paulo Bento felt his side were good value for their 2-0 Champions League victory over Basel.

The Portuguese giants bounced back from defeat by Barcelona in their Group C opener to claim a comfortable win.

David Abraham's attempted clearance hit Leandro Romagnoli and looped over Basel goalkeeper Franco Costanzo to give the hosts a deserved 55th-minute lead.

And Brazilian striker Derlei struck four minutes from time to seal a victory which Bento believes could have been more emphatic.

"We started the match well," he said. "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. I think this was a fair victory, although we could have won by a bigger margin."

Bento introduced out-of-favour striker Simon Vukcevic for Fabio Rochemback at half-time and Basel coach Christian Gross, whose side remain without a point, felt the Montenegrin forward had a big impact.

"I think the difference was the speed of Sporting's game in the second half," he said.

"A man came on who speeded up play. They had some luck but deserved to win.

"I'm not unhappy. We improved a lot in relation to our first match. Now we have to show what we're capable of against Barcelona."