What is RSS?

Uefa Cup: Braga’s Slovakian stroll

Maritimo give Valencia scare; Setubal thrashed in Holland

Braga will join Benfica as Portugal’s sole representatives in the group phase of this season’s Uefa Cup. Guimaraes, Maritimo and Setubal ultimately paid the price for being unseeded and landing difficult draws in the competition’s opening round.

Although struggling to find their best form in the Portuguese Liga, Braga’s expensively assembled team have been outstanding in Europe. After qualifying for the Uefa Cup through the Intertoto Cup pre-season, Jorge Jesus’s side completed a convincing 6-0 aggregate victory over Slovakian outfit Artmedia last night, winning the match in Bratislava 2-0.

Luis Aguiar was the hero for Braga. The Uruguayan scored two first-half goals, the first from the penalty spot and the second a fine 25-metre shot.

It is the third consecutive year that Braga have made the group stage of the competition. In the two previous seasons the Arsenalistas progressed to the next phase of the competition, and on this form they stand every chance of matching that achievement in 2008/09.


Related: Benfica 2-0 Napoli (agg. 4-3)
Related: Guimaraes 2-2 Portsmouth (agg. 2-4)


Maritimo were close to causing a sensation in Spain after taking a shock first-half lead against La Liga leaders Valencia.

Marcinho’s fine individual effort on 40 minutes put the islanders ahead, and as the game neared the final ten minutes an impatient crowd at the Mestalla started to turn on their team as the Portuguese side held their own.

But the Madeira outfit’s hopes of taking the tie into extra time were dashed when Del Horno scored after good work from Valencia’s Portuguese midfielder Manuel Fernandes.

To rub salt in the wounds the visitors were on the wrong end of a ridiculous penalty decision in stoppage time. David Villa duly converted the spot kick to give Valencia victory and a 3-1 aggregate win.

Setubal humbled

Setubal arrived in Holland making all the right noises after more than matching Heerenveen in the first leg a fortnight ago which finished 1-1.

However, a nightmare start to the match ended their hopes as the Sadinos fell 3-0 down inside 24 minutes. At the start of the second half the Dutch side scored a fourth, before Setubal came back with goals from Bruno Gama (57) and Ricardo Chaves (63) to briefly raise the prospect of an unlikely comeback.

That flicker of hope was soon extinguished however, as Heerenveen scored a fifth to complete a resounding 5-2 win and 6-3 aggregate victory.

Results and goalscorers:

Valencia 2-1 Maritimo (agg. 3-1)
[0-1] Marcinho, 40
[1-1] Del Horno, 81
[2-1] Villa 92

Artmedia 0-2 Braga (agg. 0-6)
[0-1] Luis Aguiar, 11 (pen)
[0-2] Luis Aguiar, 30

Heerenveen 5-2 Setubal (agg. 6-3)
[1-0] Paulo Henrique, 6
[2-0] Sibon, 13
[3-0] Sibon, 24
[4-0] Elyounoussi, 50
[4-1] Bruno Gama, 57
[4-2] Ricardo Chaves, 64
[5-2] Elyounoussi, 68