Sporting suffered a shock defeat in Romania against Vaslui, while Lazio battled to a narrow win over FC Zurich.
Lazio beat Zurich as Sporting suffer shock defeat
Sporting suffered a shock defeat in Romania against Vaslui, while Lazio battled to a narrow win over FC Zurich.
Sporting had already sealed their progress to the last 32 after opening up a seven-point lead over their three Group D rivals at the halfway point of the campaign, but lost their perfect record as they went down 1-0 to
Vaslui.
Having already qualified for the knockout stages after winning their first three group games, Sporting travelled without a number of key players and paid the price as Denis Zmeu's first-half strike gave Vaslui victory.
Vaslui started in confident mood having scored eight goals in their last two domestic outings and they camped in the visitors' half forcing a succession of early corners and free-kicks.
Vaslui's opener finally arrived just before the half-hour mark when Lucian Sanmartean swung in a corner from the right which found Zmeu who fired a left-foot shot into the corner of the net from six yards.
Sporting battled hard in pursuit of an equaliser but Vaslui did all they could to run down the clock and secure a win which gives them plenty of hope of joining their opponents in the knockout stages.
Brocchi inspires Lazio
In Group D's other match, substitute Christian Brocchi scored the only goal as
Lazio beat
FC Zurich 1-0 to record their first win in the Europa League.
Brocchi came on in the second half and struck the winner in the 62nd minute to bring the Stadio Olimpico to life.
Lazio, held to a 1-1 draw at Zurich two weeks ago, had struggled to break the Swiss outfit's well-placed defence in the opening half.
Manager Edy Reja made a double substitution after the re-start with Djibril Cisse and Brocchi replacing Miroslav Klose and Senad Lulic.
The hosts continued to dominate possession and Lazio's efforts finally paid off shortly after the hour mark, when Brocchi got past his marker and struck a right-footed shot from 20 yards that beat goalkeeper Johnny Leoni.
The result has left Zurich without a victory after four games and lifted the Italians to second in the group.
