Twelve months ago, when Braga were about to embark on their league campaign, coach Domingos Paciencia could barely have imagined facing Sevilla in a Champions League play-off tie. He had just taken the reins of the club and was about to embark on a journey that would see the Arsenalistas overhaul giants such as Sporting CP and Porto to challenge Benfica to the wire for the league title.
Braga may have come up short in that pursuit, but their consolation prize was a pass to play off for the right to break into Europe’s big-time.
Already they have eliminated the Scottish challenge of Celtic with ease. Though Braga would go down 2-1 in Glasgow, they moved into the lead in that game, which meant the Bhoys needed to score five times to turn the tie around after a simple 3-0 victory at the spectacular and wholly unique Estadio AXA.
Those encounters had been Braga’s only taste of competitive football this season prior to the weekend’s 3-1 home success over Portimonense, which carried them to the summit of the Portuguese Liga after one round of matches.
Neither Celtic nor Portimonense will have prepared Paciencia’s side for the challenge that lies ahead, though the side from the north of the country will feel that they overcame similarly sized obstacles on a regular basis last term.
Barcelona Beaters
Sevilla’s domestic season also got off to a 3-1 home success, though they were facing far sterner opposition in the form of Barcelona, albeit a watered down Blaugrana in the Spanish Super Cup. Pep Guardiola’s fringe players threatened something of an upset as they grabbed the lead at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, but ever dependable strike duo Luis Fabiano and Frederic Kanoute grabbed the goals as los Nervionenses grabbed a healthy lead for the return leg.
Over the course of the last week Fabiano has been linked with a move to French side Olympique de Marseille, though Sevilla have managed to resist the advances of the Ligue 1 champions and will seemingly be able to boast the Brazilian for the remainder of the season.
Not much has changed squad-wise for Antonio Alvarez’s side since they managed to claim fourth place in La Liga last term. Ultra-versatile Brazilian Adriano has left for Barcelona, replaced by a combination of Tiberio Guarente, who has signed on from Atalanta, and Mouhamadou Dabo, who arrives from Saint-Etienne.
Still boasting plenty of quality in their squad, Sevilla are a side who will feel they deserve to be amongst Europe’s best, but they must prove that over the course of two matches against Braga to earn the right to feature in the group stages.
TEAM NEWS
Braga
With an array of changes made over the course of the summer, the Braga squad is still settling down somewhat and will have to cope with a handful of injuries too. Goalkeeper Quim, who arrived in the summer as a replacement for Eduardo, is out and will be replaced by Felipe.
Marcio Mossoro is being slowly introduced into the team after undergoing an operation, while Leo Fortunato is the only other doubt in the Portuguese ranks.
Probable Starting XI: Felipe V; Miguel Garcia, Rodriguez, Moises, Elderson; Vandinho, Leandro Salino; Luis Aguiar, Alan, Matheus; Paulo Cesar
Sevilla
Coach Antonio Alvarez has already named his 19-man squad for the encounter in northern Portugal. Tiberio Guarente and long-term problem Abdoulay Konko are both missing, while there is no place in the roster for either Ivica Dragutinovic or Lautaro Acosta, who are both building towards full fitness after serious injuries.
Probable Starting XI: Palop; Dabo, Escude, Squillaci, Navarro; Perotti, Renato, Zokora, Navas; Fabiano, Kanoute
Prediction
Additional competitive matches mean that Braga will probably be a little sharper than their guests, who will be relying on their innate technical superiority to carry the day in this fixture. However, home advantage often counts for much in Europe, so the hosts shouldn’t be discounted and may even go to Spain next week on level terms.
Braga 1-1 Sevilla 
