Braga Fc names starting XI for 20-hour Europa League semi-final
braga fc named its starting eleven for the first leg of the Europa League semi-final against Friburgo at the Estádio Municipal de Braga at 20 hours. The match also marked Braga’s 100th game in the competition’s main phase, a milestone reached on a night that could push the club toward a second European final.
Salvador Meets the Squad
António Salvador and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa were in the garage of the Estádio Municipal de Braga to wait for the team bus, then greeted the Braga players one by one. The scene came before kickoff, after both teams had already completed warm-up work on the pitch.
Braga kept only Paulo Oliveira, Tiknaz and Rodrigo Zalazar in the starting team compared with the previous league match against Santa Clara. Hornicek started in goal behind Paulo Oliveira, Lagerbielke and Vítor Carvalho, with Victor Gómez, João Moutinho, Grllitsch and Tiknaz in midfield and Zalazar, Pau Victor and Ricardo Horta ahead of them.
Friburgo Lineup at Braga
Friburgo lined up with Atubolu; Treu, Ginter, Lienhart and Makengo; Eggestein and Manzambi; Beste, Suzuki and Grifo; Matanovic. Their bench included Muller, Huth, Jung, Scherhant, Holer, Kubler, Irié, Philipp, Hofler, Gunter, Ogbus and Tarnutzer.
Braga’s substitutes were Tiago Sá, Bellaarouch, Lelo, El Ouazzani, Mario Dorgeles, Fran Navarro, Yanis da Rocha, Jónatas Noro, Rodrigo Silva, Vasconcelos, Luisinho and Afonso Sousa. The selection came with a sharp European backdrop: Braga had won five of its last seven matches against German teams after failing to win any of its first six, and last season it beat Hoffenheim 3-0 in the Europa League league phase.
Braga's European Milestone
Friburgo’s only previous matches against Portuguese opposition were a 1-1 home draw and a 0-0 away draw against Estoril in the 2013/14 Europa League group stage. Braga, meanwhile, was the first Portuguese club to reach a European semi-final since the 2013/14 Europa League and had played more matches in the competition from matchday 1 to the final than any other club in the Europa League era. The 100th appearance underlined the scale of the occasion without changing the task in front of them: get the first leg right in Braga.
For supporters inside the stadium, the immediate stakes were simple. Braga had its strongest European marker of the season in front of it, and the lineup showed a side built to turn a rare semi-final into a result that keeps the tie alive.
