Sporting Lisbon coach Bento resigns

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LISBON, Nov 6, 2009 (AFP) - Portuguese Paulo Bento has bowed to recent pressure and resigned as coach of top league side Sporting Lisbon after one of the club's worst starts to the season in recent history.

Sporting issued a statement Friday in which Bento was quoted as saying that he no longer felt capable of remaining as the club's top coach "in the current climate".

Bento will be replaced by his former assistant Leonel Pontes, who now has the job of lifting the Portuguese side up from modest seventh place in the league.

Sporting, who are more used to contending the title with FC Porto and city rivals Benfica, have only 13 points from nine games and are 12 points adrift of surprise leaders Sporting Braga.

During his four-year spell Bento helped Sporting win two Portuguese Cups and two Super Cups, although winning the league was a more frustrating affair, Sporting finishing runner-up to FC Porto four years in a row.

"Sporting doesn't have the financial muscle to keep pace with the two other title contenders (FC Porto and Benfica)," Bento complained recently.