This Tuesday, SC Braga will face the Serbs from Backa Topola at home in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the Champions League, whose group stage they are trying to reach for the third time. Braga is 100% successful in the preliminary phase of the Champions League, having beaten it on both occasions, in 2010/11 and 2012/13, but to repeat the feat they have to eliminate the Serbian runner-up and still play a game. off.
In the first official match of the season, Artur Jorge opted to maintain a large part of the team’s base from last season, launching only two reinforcements: Fonte in the place that Paulo Oliveira usually occupied and Vítor Carvalho in the lands that André Horta or André Castro usually steps on.
Braga’s control over the Serbs began very early and, after seven minutes, Ilic had to work hard to avoid Bruma’s 1-0 shot. The new ‘7’ from Braga took advantage of a loose ball in Backa’s penalty area to launch a well-placed shot to the post, but saw that the goalkeeper reached the ball on time.
Except that the Portuguese side did not accept that “no” from the Serb as an answer and wanted to say it in an even more complicated way. He received it from Borja on the left of the attack, he launched himself diagonally towards the goal and, still outside the penalty area, he shot in such a way that he made the ball hit just in front of Ilic before going into the net to make it 1-0.
He celebrated with a red balloon that he inflated to show the fans, as if to show that he was there to put on a multidimensional show, and in return he only asked for applause.
That goal was still being celebrated in Braga when Abel Ruiz unmarked Pizzi in the face of the Serbian goalkeeper the next minute. The Portuguese looked at the goal and, in the pass, shot to make it 2-0.
To cool off, Backa did the same when, on 20′, Pantovic also appeared too close to the SC Braga goal. However, he didn’t have Pizzi’s art and ended up pulling over. Even so, it served for the Serbs to officially arrive at the party.
Until minute 33, they created danger -although not too much for Matheus-, forcing SC Braga to show that there is a defense beyond extremely high pressure. That is, until Bruma sat out the same player twice in the same play and found Al Musrati inside the penalty area. This time the goalkeeper Ilic did not count, but the defender who, on the goal line, deflected his header over the goal.
After a first half with very little mastery of the game, Backa’s Serbs opted for a substitution in attack: they resigned from Rakonjac to bring on Radin.
Sporting Braga’s eleven: Matheus, Victor Gómez, Niakaté, José Fonte, Borja, Al Musrati, Vítor Carvalho, Pizzi, Bruma, Ricardo Horta and Abel Ruiz
Backa Topola XI: Ilic, Cvetkovic, Calusic, Dordevic, Petrovic, Stojic, Dakovac, Kuveljic, Pantovic, Jovanovic and Rakonjac
SC Braga, with a squad led by coach Artur Jorge theoretically stronger than last season, has as its main argument a record of five wins, one draw and one loss in the preseason.
SC Braga Substitutes: Hornicek, Saatçi, André Horta, Roger Fernandes, Alvaro Djaló, Paulo Oliveira, Zalazar, Mendes, Adrián Marin, Banza, André Castro and Djibril Soumare
Backa Topola substitutes: Simic, Jorgic, Radin, Milovanovic, Milosavljevic, Stanic, Antonic, Cirkovic, Cvetinovic, Krstic, Vlalukin and Sós
Source: TSF
