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Time for Partizan to claim first win against Braga

The visit of SC Braga, winners in Portugal on Matchday 3, offers FK Partizan the opportunity to claim their first UEFA Champions League group stage victory at the tenth time of asking.

Time for Partizan to claim first win against Braga
Time for Partizan to claim first win against Braga ©UEFA.com

FK Partizan are still looking for their first win in UEFA Champions League group matches and will hope that their luck turns in Belgrade when they face SC Braga two weeks after the sides met for the first time in a competitive fixture.

• The Portuguese club came out on top on Matchday 3, Lima and Matheus scoring in each half to secure a 2-0 victory that took Braga into third place in Group H. Braga and Partizan had opened the section with defeats against both Arsenal FC and FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

Match background
• Partizan have drawn their last three home matches against visitors from Portugal starting from their 1-1 stalemate with FC Porto in their only other UEFA Champions League group stage campaign, in 2003/04. Before that three-game run of draws, all three fixtures in Belgrade ended in wins for the Serbian hosts. The defeat in Braga was only Partizan's fourth in 13 matches against Portuguese Liga opponents, with four victories.

• Partizan will be looking to win a UEFA Champions League group home fixture for the first time; in 2002/03, they drew all three group games at the FK Partizan Stadium and finished bottom of their section. Indeed, this is their tenth attempt to win in the group stage, home and away.

• Braga's only previous visit to Serbia – for a 2005/06 UEFA Cup first round tie with FK Crvena Zvezda – ended 0-0 with Braga eliminated on away goals. Before the game on Matchday 3 Crvena Zvezda were the only Serbian opponents Braga had faced, their record showing two draws and a win in the three fixtures.

• Partizan began in Group H with a 1-0 defeat at Shakhtar. For long periods on Matchday 2, Aleksandar Stanojević's team looked capable of taking something from the home game with Arsenal but ultimately lost 3-1. Cléo had pegged back the Gunners with a first-half penalty but his second spot kick was beaten away by Łukasz Fabiański late on.

•  The Serbian champions eased past FC Pyunik 4-1 in the second qualifying round with the help of a 3-1 home win and next faced HJK Helsinki, a 3-0 Belgrade triumph setting them up for a 5-1 overall success. In the play-off round they eventually overcame RSC Anderlecht via a 3-2 penalty shoot-out win after a 2-2 scoreline in both legs.

• Arsenal made it a debut appearance to forget for Braga by brushing aside the 2009/10 Liga runners-up 6-0 in north London on Matchday 1 before a 3-0 home defeat by Shakhtar.

• A 4-3 at Sevilla FC in the play-off second leg sealed Braga's place in the group stage for the first time. They had won 1-0 at home while in the third qualifying round Domingos Paciência's side defeated Celtic FC 3-0 in Portugal, but lost the away game 2-1.

Team ties
• Vladimir Stojković signed for Sporting in 2007/08. However he only made nine appearances for the Lisbon club and joined Partizan on a season's loan in August.

• During a spell with Crvena Zvezda, Stojković was involved in the aforementioned 2005/06 UEFA Cup games with Braga. He was an unused substitute in the first leg but started the return in Portugal. Vandinho and Andrés Madrid started both legs of the tie for Braga.

• Cléo played in Portugal for third division side CD Olivais e Moscavide in two spells, in 2004/05 and from 2006 to 2008.

• Partizan's Portuguese midfielder Almami Moreira played for several clubs in his homeland including Boavista FC, Gil Vicente FC and Clube Desportivo das Aves.

• Pierre Boya and Albert Meyong are team-mates with the Cameroon national team.

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