Sinisa Mihajlovic to coach Sporting Lisbon

LISBON: Former AC Milan and Torino coach Sinisa Mihajlovic is to coach Portuguese crisis club Sporting Lisbon after penning a deal through 2021, the club said on Monday.

Former coach Jorge Jesus and several top players have quit the team after being badly beaten by masked men at their own training ground in May.

The club's own president Bruno de Carvalho has been accused of potential involvement.

The 49-year-old Serbian Mihajlovic is an archetypal footballing hard-man with deep experience at the top level as a player and as a coach.

Nine players including Portugal internationals at the World Cup Rui Patricio, William Carvalho, Bruno Fernandes and Gelson Martins have broken their deals with the club since the horrific attack.

Other players who graced the green and white hooped shirts of Sporting have informed the club of their intention to leave.

Twenty-three people were remanded in custody following the attack on Sporting's Alcochete training base in the Lisbon suburbs on May 15.

The incident came in the build-up to the Portuguese Cup final, which Sporting lost 2-1 to unfancied Aves to complete a miserable end to the season.

Sporting finished third in the table following a defeat at Maritimo in their final game of the season to miss out on a place in the Champions League qualifying rounds.