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Braga the Greats! How many people knew about them a couple of years ago? These days, if you spell those five letters to Liverpool, Celtic, Sevilla or Arsenal supporters, they surely will know what team you are talking about – unless they opt to play the ignorant game. In fact, some may do so since there are bad memories from an opponent’s point of view when you think about Braga’s achievements in Europe.
They stunned Celtic and Sevilla on their way to the group stages of the UEFA Champions League and if they left that competition, they didn’t do so without embarrassing the Gunners. Now, Sporting Braga’s European dreams continue with the UEFA Europa League trophy not so far away from their reach. The Portuguese team are quarter-finalists and this is no joke.
Encouraged by their unbeaten run which dates from February 24 this year, Sporting Braga will be keen to maintain their momentum with a positive result in Ukraine against Dynamo Kiyv. It certainly won’t be easy, but there is no point for Braga to be scared. Dyanmo Kiyv might boast about having defeated big money spenders Manchester City in the Third Round of the UEFA Europa League.
Well, Braga also defeated a giant team from England as they controversially denied Liverpool from jumping into the Last 8 of the competition. Live Soccer TV shares with you Sporting Braga’s results from previous rounds in the UEFA Europa League:
UEFA Europa League Second Round
Feb 17, 2011: Lech Poznan 1-0 Braga
Feb 24, 2011: Braga 2-0 Lech Poznan
UEFA Europa League Third Round
Mar 10, 2011: Braga 1-0 Liverpool
Mar 17, 2011: Liverpool 0-0 Braga
Thursday night will present Sporting Braga with yet another opportunity to raise the flag of Portugal high and to defend the team’s colours. But here is a challenging question to which The Minho Warriors would love to answer, “yes”: Will Sporting Braga record their first away victory in the UEFA Europa League and their second only in Europe this season?