I bet Braga off level ball in the first leg 7 days ago ...........
I think this is a huge test for Rangers, they have played well in Europe this season, but do not get to face this level of opposition too often. Braga have a rich history in the competition and teams from the Iberian Peninsula have always done well in the Europa League and treated it with tremendous respect.
Almost exactly two years ago I spoke about that and their unique position in Portugal or pretty much any league for that matter ........
Sporting Braga are a team I like and one I have spoken often as a big player in this competition and like all representatives from the Iberian Peninsula, they treat the competition with great respect and play in it with enthusiasm. I spoke about this and how they were continual overachieving domestically at around this time last season ..........
Given the size of the club, the city and their spending power, you could make a case for Sporting being the most successful club in European competition over the last 6-7 years.They are now hugely experienced European campaigners and since 2010-11 they have played in the group stage of two Champions and now four Europa League's, qualifying in the last three of those, including a run to the final and quarter final (last season). They have played over 50 Europan ties in that sequence and have also finished top 4 in a tough domestic league, where, if you are being realistic, only 4th spot if really up for grabs, in 6 of the last 7 seasons. This is a very well run club who are not only used to this level of competition, but expect to thrive in it. It must be tough to go into every season knowing that you are playing for 4th and to remain focused, when 4th is seen as success, but 5th a disaster !
Braga are a selling club, that is how they survive and are used to continually replacing players, they banked another 30m€ in the summer, but will have recruited well and they are, guess where after seven games ? Yes, fourth ! So, normal service has been resumed. They did keep hold of last season's top scorer Koka , Pedro Santos had a good end to last season and has hit the ground running this time round with four league goals already, Wilson Eduardo has three and the Braga goal threat looks as strong right now, as at any recent time .
They finished fifth last season (disaster ! See above.) and will want 4th as a minimum this time round, they currently hold that and play away to the team in 5th on Monday, they are also much closer to the top three this time round and might even feel they could pass one.
Now almost three months on, Braga are yes, you guessed it, 4th ! Seven points behind Benfica in third, 13 ahead of the team in 5th, they are in a league of their own, unfortunately that league is in no man's land and they just don't have the resources to do battle too often with the big three, but are miles better than the rest ! To highlight that, they have a+25 goal difference, only one team below them is not on minus goals and they have +/- zero ! Braga warmed up at the weekend with a very nice 5-0 road win over the team in 9th and I am sure will want to impress this evening.
They again finished 4th in both 2017-18 and last season, this time round they have been in marvelous form since the sacking of Ricardo Sa Pinto in December. His replacement, Ruben Amorim, has won eight of his nine games in charge, including 5 wins over Portugal's big three ,Benfica, Porto and Sporting (both twice), beating the top 2 on the road, while climbing to third in the division. I have watched their last two away starts, they are quite direct, physical, good from set pieces and on the counter and ,find a lot of space in the opposition box, as you would expect from such a good run they are also playing with huge confidence.They should have conceded a couple in the weekend game against Benfica (where they won 1-0), but equally, might have scored another goal of two themselves and the Eagles had only conceded 5 at home all season prior to that. They will finish 3rd or 4th almost guaranteed, expect no more or less and it will be all about the Europa League for them and I take their talent and european know how to win out.
Somehow, Rangers pulled off an astonishing late comeback from 2-0 down to rescue their Europa League hopes with a dramatic victory at Ibrox. The Portuguese team were totally dominant and cruising before it all turned around in a 15 minute period that looked unlikely and is hard to explain. Braga are confident they can turn this around and with Rangers without suspended Alfredo Morelos which means they are missing their two top goalscorers and Morelos has 14 goals and 4 assists in the competition this season. The visitors have also not won any of their last 15 European (main competition) away games (0-5-10). Braga to win this by 2.
Good Luck.
