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Uefa Cup draw: Differing fortunes for Portuguese duo

Benfica grouped with Galatasary; Braga land Milan

The draw for the Uefa Cup group stage has on the face of it been kinder to Benfica than fellow Portuguese participants, Braga. Quique Flores’ team will play German outfit Hertha Berlin, Galatasaray of Turkey, Olympiakos of Greece and Metalist of Ukraine.

Braga start and end their campaign against Portsmouth (England) and Heerenveen (Holland), both of whom knocked out Portuguese opposition in the first round. In between they will lock horns with the mighty AC Milan and Wolfsburg of Germany.

Benfica will be moving into unknown territory, having never before faced Hertha Berlin, Metalist Kharkiv or Galatasaray. The match against the Turks will have special significance for former Benfica defender Fernando Meira, who is now playing his football for the Istanbul based club.

The Eagles will be happy to be playing both Galatasaray and Metalist at the Estadio da Luz, thus avoiding the intimidating atmosphere always present in Turkish stadiums and the long journey to Ukraine.

As for Olympiakos, the Lisbon outfit have faced the Greeks four times, winning on three occasions and losing once, scoring five goals and conceding just one.

Braga’s tough mission

Braga are taking part in the group stage of the Uefa Cup for the third consecutive year. In the previous two seasons they have made progress, and Jorge Jesus’ team will have to continue their fine form in Europe this season to make it through to the knockout phase.

The Arsenalistas start against Portsmouth, who knocked Guimaraes out in the first round, before travelling to the San Siro to take on Kaka, Ronaldinho and co in the shape of AC Milan.

They then welcome Ricardo Costa’s Wolfsburg to the AXA Stadium before ending the group in Holland against Setubal’s 1st-round conquerors Heerenveen.

Group B
Hertha Berlin-BENFICA, 23 October
BENFICA-Galatasaray, 6 November
Olympiakos-BENFICA, 27 November
BENFICA-Metalist Kharkiv, 18 December

Group E
BRAGA-Portsmouth, 23 October
AC Milan-BRAGA, 6 November
BRAGA-Wolfsburg, 23 November
Heerenveen-BRAGA, 4 December