Sporting wins after clash between players and club president
LISBON, Portugal (AP) Sporting Lisbon moved past a spat between players and the club president by defeating Pacos Ferreira to stay third in the Portuguese league on Sunday.
Players and president Bruno de Carvalho reportedly made peace before the match and the team responded with a 2-0 home victory with goals by Bas Dost in the 20th minute and Bryan Ruiz in the 65th.
Carvalho reportedly went on a social media tirade following Sporting's 2-0 loss at Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Europa League quarterfinal on Thursday, with local media saying he suspended 19 players in the squad.
Coach Jorge Jesus, who denied the suspensions on Saturday, had his entire squad available for Sunday's match.
''This group is very united and nobody is going to change that,'' Jesus said after the victory.
Pacos Ferreira ended the match with defender Rui Correa in goal because goalkeeper Mario Felgueiras got hurt and the team had already made three substitutions.
Earlier Sunday, second-place Porto defeated Desportivo Aves 2-0 to stay a point behind four-time defending champion Benfica, which had beaten Setubal 2-1 on Saturday with a stoppage-time goal by Raul Jimenez.
Benfica hosts Porto next Sunday.
