BRAGA

League position: 3rd
Head coach: Carlos Carvalhal
Europa League top-scorer: Ricardo Horta (3)

RECENT FORM

Braga: W W D D W
Roma: L W W L W

Like Roma, Braga currently sit third in their domestic top-flight and the Portuguese outfit are currently enjoying a seven-game unbeaten run in all competitions (W5, D2).

Despite that recent good record, Braga remain 11 points adrift of Sporting Lisbon and they have lost five of their last six matches in the Europa League knockout stage.

As for the Giallorossi, Paulo Fonseca returns to his old haunt with a team buoyed by three wins from their last four and having scored 10 times across that trio of victories.

Roma closed out Group A with the same 13 points haul as their hosts but finished top compared to Braga’s second-place effort and the men from the Italian capital won each of their away games prior to defeat in the final match of the group at CSKA Sofia, where Fonseca heavily rotated his team having secured safe passage to the knockouts well in advance.

DANGER MAN
Wanderson Galeno

Horta has been Braga’s most potent attacker so far this season; scoring 11 goals and laying on a further six assists in all competitions.

And the 26-year-old will certainly require Roma’s attention, but Galeno has the potential to cause havoc and his potential battle up against Rick Karsdorp is an exciting one.

Galeno loves to dribble with the ball from the left of Carvalhal’s preferred 3-4-3 formation and whoever is able to force the other backwards most often may well prove the difference for their side on Thursday.

The 23-year-old Brazilian can also play in any attacking role and has been involved in 11 goals (8 goals, 3 assists) in just his 10 UEL starts, including four assists and two goals already this season.

MATCH STATS

This will be the first meeting between Braga and Roma in the two clubs’ history.

Meanwhile, Braga will become the sixth Portuguese team to play Roma and the Giallorossi have beaten each of their previous six opponents from Portugal at least once.

Fonseca was in the Braga dugout for the 2015-16 campaign and his last match in charge saw the now Roma boss lift the Portuguese cup.

He subsequently moved to Shakhtar Donetsk, before Roma came calling in 2019 and Fonseca picked up two wins over Braga in the 2016-17 UEL campaign, his first year in Ukraine.

PLAYER STATS

• Borja Mayoral is Roma’s top-scorer in Europe this term with three goals in six matches.
  
• Only Arsenal (11) have had more different goalscorers than Roma in the UEL so far in 2020-21, with 10 Giallorossi players finding the back of the net; Mayoral, Riccardo Calafiori, Edin Dzeko, Tommaso Milanese, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Roger Ibanez, Marash Kumbulla, Pedro, Bruno Peres and Jordan Veretout.
  
• Mkhitaryan and Chris Smalling were teammates when the pair won the Europa League trophy in 2017, while Pedro also has a winners’ medal from 2019.
  
• Pedro was victorious with Chelsea, where he spent five years on the books at the same time as Braga's Lucas Piazon, although they didn't play alongside each other once due to Piazon's series of loan spells that saw him temporarily join seven different teams before signing permanently for Braga this summer.

WHAT THEY SAID

“They’re two teams with good dynamics and I believe that both will try to win the game. I don't see Roma playing to defend, because they are a team with an offensive mindset and Braga always play to try to win. You can guess a great football game, which is what we expect.”

- Braga coach Carlos Carvalhal