Humiliation in Pedreira makes Europa League qualification difficult

St. Braga’s European night against lowly Azerbaijan’s Karabakh was a humiliation for the Minho warriors. Playing at home, Braga lost 2–4 in the first leg of the Europa League play-offs and increased their chances of elimination in the second game and missing out on the round of 16.

The rush to make people forget the 5-0 defeat to Sporting was bad advice. Braga performed sharply, but with poor quality football, far from what they have shown this season. Without creating any danger to the Azerbaijani goal, Qarabag entered the field. Jafargully entered the penalty area, and Victor Gomez naively knocked down the opposing defender. Penalty, and Marko Jankovic did not flinch.

Braga’s reaction was expected, corresponding to the difference in potential of the two teams. However, Braga have not shown consistency. To some surprise, almost at half-time, Banza took advantage of the opportunity to shoot for equality.

In the second half, Alvaro Djalo seemed to show signs of recovery, but it did not last long. After a set piece, Zubir beat Matheus and returned Qarabag to the lead. Just when it seemed things couldn’t get any worse… Juninho increased the lead to 3-1. The move was ruled invalid due to an offside position, but VAR ruled the goal. The nightmare was not over yet and Zubir scored twice in the match. Without doing much, Braga reduced the score to 2-4 thanks to a penalty converted by João Moutinho.

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“I understand…”
“White scarves? Rebellion against a coach who always has to show his face. I clearly understand the disappointment, the sadness… I can only promise that we need to work and do more, so instead of rioting we have fans with us,” said Arthur Jorge. The Braga coach is not giving up the fight for a draw.

Whistles and insults
After the final whistle, the Braga players moved towards the stands and ended up hearing whistles and a lot of insults from the fans.