Sporting Braga beat Portimonense in the 1/8 finals of the Portuguese Cup

Sporting Braga beat Portimonense in the Algarve 4-1 this Saturday in a match highlighted by Ricardo Horta’s brace early in the second half to reach the round of 16 of the Portuguese Cup.

Alvaro Djalo’s excellent goal in the 13th minute opened the way to victory for Braga, who had already beaten Algarve (6-1) at home in the I League three weeks ago, the Portuguese player “decided” the tie with two quick goals, at 47 and 50, and Rony Lopez made it 4-0 at 76 and Filipe Relvas reduced the difference at 83.

Sporting Braga, beaten finalists in the last edition of the Cup (beaten by Porto), started the better despite the absence of some first-team players spared by Arthur Jorge, pushing the Algarve side into third place defensively.

Migno’s sharper midfield side managed to establish early dominance against an amorphous Portimonense side, with Abel Ruiz, already threatening in the third minute, trying a short-handed try against Vinicius Silvestre in the 11th minute. .

Braga’s period of ascension was evident on the scoreboard in the 13th minute, with a moment of “magic” from Alvaro Djalo, who arced a shot from outside the penalty area into the top left corner of the Algarve goal, with no chance of hitting the Braga goal. opponent’s goalkeeper.

Braga’s team maintained their superiority in the following minutes, without creating any serious chances, and Portimonense only began to emerge from passivity after half an hour.

At this stage, it was the young Czech goalkeeper Lukas Horníček, who took advantage of the opportunity provided by Artur Jorge, to make three very important saves, stopping the intentions of Sylvester Jasper (32 and 45+1) and Rony Carrillo (45). ).

Portimonense went to the break to justify the equality, but in the second half began to “sleep” and, as in the match with Braga, conceded two goals in a short period of time.

Ricardo Horta took advantage of a lucky Alemao rebound to make it 2-0 in the 47th minute, and after a pass from Pizzi he fired an unmarked shot into the box to make it 3-0 in the 50th minute, leaving the score decided. .

Paulo Sergio ran out of subs and Midana Kassama, a striker who responded well for the Algarve under-23s, made a strong debut for the first team, creating several dangerous chances.

Sporting Braga extended their lead in the 76th minute through Rony Lopez, who had come off the bench minutes earlier, and Filipe Relvas headed in a corner to score the “goal of honour” for Algarve in the 83rd minute. .