Sporting Braga vs. Dynamo Kiev: Match Preview

With two of their domestic rivals looking set to make it to the Semi-Finals, Sporting Braga will be hoping to make it three Portuguese clubs in the final four by beating Ukraine’s Dynamo Kiev in the Europa League.

After the first leg finished 1-1 in Kiev, Braga coach Domingos Paciência knows his side only have to stop Kiev from scoring to go through to the next round. His game plan, however, is to stick to their normal tactics and entertain the home support.

“We are not playing for 0-0,” Paciência announced in his press conference. “We will play the way we always do and go out to get a positive result.”

“We are playing at home in front of our own fans and we know we can go through. We will play our normal game and we are confident we can get past this opponent, either with or without goals.”

Braga will be full of confidence after knocking out Liverpool in the last round. To progress tonight, the Minhotos will have to do without Miguel Garcia and Kaka (both suspension) as well as Alberto Rodriguez and Elderson (both injury).

Kiev will be gunning for glory in the remaining Europa League games, as their domestic title run-in becomes weaker and weaker – with just six games remaining they trail leaders Donetsk by 11 points. They will be without former Chelsea and Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko, who was sent off for receiving two bookings in the first leg.

Kiev have already knocked out Manchester City from this season’s competition, but their form since the 2nd leg match in Manchester has faltered – they have picked up just one win from the following four matches, including a 1-0 defeat against Dnipro in the league.

They also remain in the hunt for Cup success on the domestic scene, with a semi final upcoming against Arsenal Kyiv in May.

Form
All Competitions:

Braga: WWWDW (9 goals for, 3 against)
Kiev: LLWDD (5 goals for, 4 against)

Europa League:

Braga: LWWDD (4 goals for, 3 against)
Kiev: WWWLD (11 goals for, 3 against)