Braga urged to overcome stage fright

Braga (4/5) coach Domingos Paciencia has urged his team to break their Champions League duck and record their first Group H win against Partizan Belgrade (7/2) on Tuesday.

The Portuguese club have made a miserable start to their debut season in the competition, following up their 6-0 defeat at Arsenal with a 3-0 home loss to Shakhtar Donetsk.

But the visit of the Serbian champions to northern Portugal gives Sporting Braga an opportunity to do compete on a level playing field – financially.

“We’re in a competition where we’re up against teams in a different boat to us, teams with a budget ten times the size of ours,” said Pacienca.

“To be able to match teams like that, we will have to see a very different Braga – a Braga side at the top of their game, playing their best.

“It’s our first time in the competition so it’s only natural that it’s tough, but it’s important for us to get second or at least third place to stay in Europe,” added the former FC Porto and Portugal striker.

The 41-year-old coach has been compared to compatriot Jose Mourinho after enjoying success early on in his coaching career, leading Braga to second place in the Portuguese Superliga last term and then knocking Celtic and Sevilla out to hit the European big time.

Braga’s home form was the key to their title challange last season as they dropped only two points at the Municipal, but they have struggled to make an impact in the rarified atmosphere of the Champions League and have only won two corners in two matches.

Partizan could be without Brazilian striker Cleo, recently linked to Liverpool, who missed their 5-3 win over Smederevo at the weekend with a minor knee problem.

Bet on the World Cup and get £200. Click here to visit Bet365 and claim your free money.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>