Sporting Lisbon made a successful start to their Champions League Group B campaign, Marco Caneira's second-half goal earning them victory against 10-man Internazionale at the Jose de Alvalade stadium.

Sporting were making their first appearance in the group stages for six years, and the win means that Paulo Bento's side stand joint top with Bayern Munich after the opening round of fixtures.

Caneira grabbed the only goal of the game in the 64th minute, before Patrick Vieira saw red for the visitors for his second bookable offence.

Inter made four changes to the side that beat Fiorentina 3-2 at the weekend, Fabio Grosso, Sisenado Maicon, Dejan Stankovic and Adriano all coming into Roberto Mancini's starting XI.

Sporting, meanwhile, were hoping to build on their domestic form which has seen them win their opening two matches in SuperLiga.

And it was the home side who enjoyed the majority of possession inside the opening 20 minutes, although neither side created any clear-cut goalscoring opportunities.

It was not until the 26th minute that the home crowd witnessed a real attempt on goal, but Leandro Romagnoli could only watch as his 30-yard effort drifted over Francesco Toldo's crossbar.

Adriano had the only other chance of a disappointing first half, which saw more bookings than chances on goal, but the Brazilian's left-footed shot was easily caught by Pereira Ricardo.

The second half started with Sporting enjoying more of the possession.

And they nearly opened the scoring in the 52nd minute, but Luis Nani's right-foot volley from distance went narrowly wide of target.

However, the hosts made no mistake 12 minutes later when Caneira claimed the winner.

The Portuguese defender picked up the ball 25 yards from goal before firing an unstoppable shot past Toldo and into the keeper's top corner.

Matters got worse for the away side four minutes later when the France midfielder Vieira got himself sent off for picking up his second yellow card.

Miguel Veloso nearly made it 2-0 for Sporting with just over 10 minutes to go, but his long-distance drive went just over.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a great chance to draw his side level with just three minutes remaining.

But the Sweden striker could only drill his left-footed effort wide of Ricardo's goal from 20 yards out.

Teams:

Sporting Ricardo, Anderson Polga, Caneira, Tonel, Abel,Nani (Tello 82), Veloso, Joao Moutinho,Romagnoli (Alecsandro 66), Djalo, Liedson.

Subs Not Used: Tiago, Ronny, Miguel Garcia, Joao Alves, Bueno.

Booked: Liedson, Joao Moutinho.

Goals: Caneira 64.

Inter Milan Toldo, Cordoba, Samuel, Grosso (Zanetti 80),Maicon, Stankovic, Figo (Gonzalez 66), Vieira, Dacourt,Ibrahimovic, Adriano (Crespo 71).

Subs Not Used: Julio Cesar, Maxwell, Solari, Materazzi.

Sent Off: Vieira (68).

Booked: Cordoba, Toldo, Vieira.

Att: 30,000

Ref: Alain Hamer (Luxembourg).