Sporting beat Leixoes 2-0 to move up to third

LISBON (Reuters) - Sporting beat strugglers Leixoes 2-0 to move up to third in the Portuguese Premier League on Sunday.

Sporting, down to 10 men for the last 20 minutes after a red card for Brazilian defender Ronny, opened the scoring when defender Tonel headed home a corner after 52 minutes.

The Lisbon side, who meet city rivals Benfica on Wednesday in the semi-finals of Portuguese Cup, doubled the lead when Brazilian striker Liedson notched his 10th goal of the season with a header from another corner after 59 minutes.

Porto, already champions, won 2-1 at Vitoria Setubal on Saturday to top the standings with 66 points with four matches remaining. In-form Vitoria Guimaraes, who beat Boavista 1-0 on Saturday, are second on 48.

Sporting are third on 46 points, leapfrogging Benfica, who suffered a humiliating 3-0 home defeat by Academica on Friday and who are now fourth on 45.

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