Portuguese are now primed for big pitch battle
BRAGA boss Ruben Amorim has revealed he will change the way they play when they face Rangers in the Europa League this week because of the state of the Ibrox pitch.
The Portuguese side handed Rangers a chilling warning of what to expect in the last-32 tie with a hugely impressive win in Lisbon — their first league success over Benfica at the Estadio da Luz for 65 years.
It was new manager Amorim’s seventh win in eight games since he took charge, with midfielder Palhinha heading the only goal of the game at the end of the first half.
But Amorim admits he’s concerned at what they will face when they travel to Glasgow to face Rangers on a sodden Ibrox pitch, after Steven Gerrard’s side’s game against Livingston was postponed for a day.
He said: ‘We know the pitch at Ibrox isn’t very good at the moment because of the weather conditions in Scotland.
‘So maybe that will mean we will have to adapt our usual style of play because of the state of the pitch and the conditions.
‘These conditions are not good for us because it won’t help the way we like to play football.
‘I know Rangers, obviously because they played against Porto in the group stage. I watched them win at home and they also drew in Portugal, which are two very good results.
‘I’ll study Rangers closely in the next few days, but I do know they are a top club. They are a club that are used to European competition, like us.
‘We are expecting two very tough games against Rangers. It will be very difficult for us.’
Amorim sprang a surprise when he opted to drop £26million Barcelonabound midfielder Francisco Trincao for the game. New £8m signing from Barca, Abel Ruiz, also had to settle for a place on the bench.
Braga’s unusual 5-2-3 formation made for a hugely attractive spectacle. They are more than happy to allow the opposition plenty of the ball, but are quick when they move up the park on the counter.
And they stunned the vast majority of the Estadio da Luz when they took a shock lead in the last minute of the first half.
Captain Fransergio had already seen his point-blank effort brilliantly saved from home keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos, but they netted straight from the resulting corner from Nuno Sequeira when midfield partner Palhinha bulleted home a free header.
Benfica were always going to come at Braga and they cracked the post within a few minutes of the restart when Carlos Vinicius beat Braga’s Brazilian keeper Matheus.
Trincao came off the bench and almost made an immediate impact when he volleyed a rebound over after Fransergio forced a save from Vlachodimos. Matheus then produced an outstanding save from Benfica captain Pizzi.
Braga should have wrapped it up with 13 minutes to go when Ricardo Horta was denied by a superb save from Vlachodimos.
But they comfortably held on, although their night was slightly soured when Raul Silva was handed a second yellow card after the final whistle for overcelebrating the win.