Braga strengthen Portuguese ambition

For the first time four Portuguese sides will be competing in European competition in the new year after SC Braga qualified for the UEFA Cup Round of 32 by beating FK Crvena Zvezda on Wednesday.

Four through
Braga finished runners-up behind FC Bayern München in Group F after goals from Austria international Roland Linz and Wender were enough to see off the Serbian champions. They now join Sporting Clube de Portugal and SL Benfica in the next round of the UEFA Cup while FC Porto continue in the UEFA Champions League.

'Historic day'
"We finished second ahead of a team called Bolton [Wanderers FC] and behind a European giant called Bayern so this is a historic day for Braga," coach Manuel Machado said. "There are some tremendous teams in the draw but we're not scared at this point because we had two excellent performances against Bolton and Bayern [both 1-1 draws] who are two great European teams. We earned more experience with those matches. Everything is possible in football."

Team work
For Wender, the most important thing was reaching the last 32. "That was all that mattered," said the Brazilian who played for Sporting in 2005/06. "Now we will do everything to continue our good UEFA Cup campaign. Of course I'm happy with the goal I scored but what really pleases me is the way we work as a team and the fact we qualified. This win was only possible because of team work."

Braga strength
Braga have quietly established a reputation as the fourth strongest club in Portugal in recent years behind Porto, Benfica and Sporting. They reached the UEFA Cup Round of 16 last year and are clearly benefiting from that experience. Prior to this season the most Portuguese clubs to have survived beyond the winter break in Europe was three. Last season Porto (UEFA Champions League), Benfica and Braga (UEFA Cup) progressed while in 2004/05 it was Porto (UEFA Champions League), Benfica and Sporting (UEFA Cup).