It looked as though the hosts had been dealt a blow after just eight minutes when captain Morten Hjulmand was shown a straight red card by Tobias Stieler for a high boot on Aleksandar Stankovic. However, VAR downgraded the colour of the card to a yellow.
Christos Tzolis had a chance deflected behind shortly after but Sporting would soon gain the upper hand with Geny Catamo firing wide from the edge of the box.
The Mozambique international was then denied by Nordin Jackers on 24 minutes only for the rebound to fall for Chelsea-bound 18-year-old Geovany Quenda, who finished on the turn for his second UCL goal of the season.
Rui Borges’ men kept the pressure on and struck again just after the half-hour mark. Catamo was provider again as he sent Luis Suarez careering in behind the Brugge defence and the Colombian forward finished with a deft dink over the onrushing Jackers to double the lead.
There was even time for Francisco Trincao to come agonisingly close from the edge of the box as the hosts went in firmly in control at the break.
Just four minutes after the restart, Suarez was sent streaking away from the Belgians’ defence and went round Jackers with the goal at his mercy. However, under pressure from Hugo Siquet, he struck the post before Jackers recovered to repel his rebound.
As the clock ticked on, Nicky Hayen’s men grew more desperate in search of a way back into the game. Substitute Nicolo Tresoldi had a good chance but could only prod wide under pressure.
However, the game was put beyond them on 70 minutes as Trincao swept home with the instep of his left boot into the bottom corner from Quenda’s pass.
The Leoes controlled proceedings the rest of the way as the result moves them up to 10th in the table with nine of their 10 points coming at the Estadio Jose Alvalade. Meanwhile, the Blau-Zwart’s hopes of repeating last year’s feat of reaching the last 16 are fading fast.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Geny Catamo (Sporting CP)