Panathinaikos 0-0 Braga

In the second leg of the playoffs for reaching the group stage of the Champions, Minho was able to endure in moments of greater pressure from the Greeks and in the 83rd minute dealt a “mortal blow” to the Portuguese striker of the national team, repeating the victory of the first hand in Braga (2-1) in the past Wednesday.

Thus, Sporting Braga repeats the feat of the 2010/11 season when they eliminated Sevilla and the 2012/13 season when they left Udinese behind in the same preliminary stage and joined Porto and Benfica in second stage. to find out the opponents in Thursday’s draw.

For the first leg, Artur Jorge made two changes to the “eleven”, one mandatory – given Al Musrati’s injury hurdle when Andre Horta came in – and another optional – a bet on Alvaro Djalo instead of Pizzi.

In the Greek team, coach Ivan Jovanovic replaced well-known Portuguese players Djuricic (who played for Benfica) and Sporar (with a more recent past at Sporting and Sporting de Braga) with Bernard and Ioannidis.

The game started with pressure from the Greeks, but it was Vitor Carvalho who shot from an excellent position three minutes later, but against his teammate Alvaro Djalo.

Panathinaikos mainly relied on their right flank, trying to create danger, which happened in the 18th and 22nd minutes, when Ioannidis and Mancini almost missed the opportunity to save the ball after tight crosses.

Sporting Braga tried to “freeze” the match, and after intercepting the ball, Alvaro Djalo helped Abel Ruiz, who shot low, in an arc, into the difficult defense of the Italian goalkeeper of the Greeks Brignoli – in reloading. Ricardo Horta could not overcome the “wall” of Huancar (31).

Towards the end of the first half, Matheus saved Sporting Braga by stopping a Vayannidis header from a right corner kick (45).

If Panathinaikos had to change the central defender due to an injury before the break (Schenkeveld replaced Yedvay in the 43rd minute), Sporting Braga lost at the beginning of the second half Niakate, who was also injured, in the face of Serdar (49). but the young Turkish center came in with personality.

Panathinaikos came close to scoring in the 54th minute after a cross from Palacios that forced Matheus to make a huge save.

Artur Jorge freshened up the midfield with Zalazar and Pizzi (André Horta and Alvaro Djalo left), but Migno’s team at that time had a lot of difficulties getting out of midfield.

With around 60,000 supporters in the lead, the Greek side kept trying to score a goal that would allow for the equalizer and in the 68th minute, Victor Gómez was instrumental in cutting through Juancar’s initiative to strike.

However, the Greek team began to “pay” for the great effort they put into the game, they broke down physically and Sporting de Braga approached the opponent’s penalty area, just like in goal: Pizzi gave the ball to Ricardo Horta, who had the sixth assist of the season , the decisive shot from Bruma, the Portuguese striker’s fourth goal of the season.

In response, Djuricic almost missed a draw (86), to the despair of the home team fans.

At the same minute, Jose Fonte cut a lot, taking away a goal from Sporar, and after a corner, Panathinaikos was again close to the goal.

The Portuguese team then capitalized on their last-minute experience and, with the arrival of the group stage, will guarantee around 30 million euros to their “execution”.